|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
Well, at least I know where a rhinoceros got its name, tsuwm. :) Except a rhino's nose isn't really a nose, and it isn't really a horn either. It's hair. [It's not exactly hair, either. It's "keratin".] Rhinoceros horns are derived from the dermis of the skin. They are solid and are composed of an aggregation of thousands of incredibly strong, tightly packed, compressed keratin fibres. The horns are perched on a roughened bump on the skin, over the nasal bone, and do not have a bony core down the middle.
The horn may unravel in places, so that it resembles a growth of hair. If it tears, only a lightly bleeding area remains on the nose and a new nose begins to grow soon. Young animals may replace the horn completely. http://experts.about.com/q/705/3675908.htm
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
graustark would have conjoined nicely with a Feb. 14 discussion. <audible sigh>
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> graustark
Doesn't sound that romantic though, does it?
- belliebkosend
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
tsuwm mentions this word down in Miscellany, but does not discuss it. Since you are so fond of Bulwer-Lytton, you might enjoy commenting on it.
Rather it's a more old-fashioned kind of story -- a graustark novel. There was once quite a fad for novels like this, beginning with George Barr McCutcheon's novel Graustark in 1901. Graustarks are novels set in imaginary -- but contemporary -- European kingdoms, where royal families are riven by dissension, lost heirs struggle to regain their rightful place from usurpers, and tourists find that they are exact doubles of royal personages
Indeed, I am a Bulwer-Lytton fan, and I intend to investigate further posthaste! (after errands...) Thanks, wwh!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
graustark would have conjoined nicely with a Feb. 14 discussion. Well...I s'pose it might have been his birthday: http://www.darbydan.com/aboutus/elitehorses.cfmScroll halfway down.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
767
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
