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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390 |
Sparrow's grass for asparagus is my favorite folk etymology.
that is excellent. i was hopelessly confused by the person who said that their friend had studied the roma as part of an interest in all things roman but i did guess that your 'sparrow's grass' was a pun on asparagus.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Oh my gosh, you may certainly say so. What a mishmash. I think the Romani coming this way from medieval India were struck by identity crisis on reaching Central and Eastern Europe, which kept them on the move all these ages. Romani
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Just an aside, but I've never heard sparrow's grass. It's always been sparrow grass.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Not five minutes after I'd read your post there was a massive invasion of sparrows in our backyards' space. ( they haven't been around for many years) They were whirling back and forth the trees like a tornado. Now I'm superstitious and have a stiff neck from trying to photograph them. The Birds
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Not half an hour before reading your post, I read a message by a friend in England who remarked how the crows were "mobbing" the field next door.
Must be the time of year.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Of course it is the time of the year. They are gathering for migration. But they never showed up in our enclosed backyard area and what I meant is that the word provoqued the event. (superstitiously speaking)
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