YvonneNew words have been a little thin on the ground over the past few weeks, but here is a short selection I have been saving up …
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1. – As part of my role as the book co-ordinator in the charity shop where I volunteer, I am also responsible for researching any possible hidden gems amongst the antiquarian books which we receive as donations. This first word was in fact the title of an elderly and rather battered copy of a 1953 novel. Having no idea what the word meant or what it might have described, I made it my mission to find out, although sadly the book was confined to the recycling pile ..
‘TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE’
PHALAROPE –
A phalarope or wadepiper is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus Phalaropus of the bird family Scolopacidae. They are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the Actitis and Terek sandpipers, and also of the turnstones and calidrids. They are especially notable for two things: their unusual nesting behavior, and their unique feeding technique.
Two species, the red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, called grey phalarope in Europe) and red-necked phalarope (P. lobatus) breed around the Arctic Circle and winter on tropical oceans. Wilson’s phalarope (P. tricolor) breeds in western North America and migrates to South America. All are 6–10 in (15–25 cm) in length, with lobed toes and a straight, slender bill. Predominantly grey and white in winter, their plumage develops reddish markings in summer.
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2. – This next word, I heard when watching the Channel 4 television news, where William Woodard, (Will) Self (born 26 September 1961) an English novelist, journalist, political commentator and television personality, was chatting about current domestic political matters, with the newsreader. Will is a skilled orator and raconteur, always guaranteed to provide plenty of new to me words for a WWW post!
DIPLOPIA
Labour party supporters, like Tory party supporters, suffer from mental diplopia, a division in their minds, where they seem to be able to think two contradictory things at once.
DIPLOPIA –
The technical term for double vision.
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3. – Now a word discovered in yet another news item, this time courtesy of an article run by our local Somerset BBC station. If you can stand to watch and listen, click on the link 🙂
BOLVING
Bolving contest on Exmoor to mimic stag mating call
BOLVING – Bolving is the name given to the stags roar when it is rutting and the stags do a series of deep guttural sounds from one breath repeated many times. The term bolving is localised to Exmoor meaning exactly the same as roaring.
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a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading. It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’.You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
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I love that your first word was in the title of a book – too bad it wasn’t worth keeping. All three words are new to me today.
Hi Kathy,
When a word appears in a book title and I don’t know the definition without looking it up, I feel particularly silly, as the author obviously isn’t catering for readers like myself.
I don’t feel quite so bad when the book is a reference piece of non-fiction, however surely fiction titles shouldn’t be quite so obscure! …. Just making this comment because I have discovered more than one word in fiction titles’, which I didn’t know 🙂
Thanks for hosting WWW and enjoy the rest of the lead up to Christmas 🙂
All are new words to me, as well. An interesting trio.
Some of those bolving calls sounded quite pained! 🙂
Hi Kelly,
I was absolutely amazed at the rutting calls of ‘real’ deer in the wild, when we watched a recent documentary on the BBC. The sound would have been enough to scare any unsuspecting person within ear-shot, although it is obviously music to the ears of the doe. Definitely the time of year to stay well away from the herd!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lcrnp
A strange selection of words this time I must admit, but three well researched new definitions learnt 🙂
Having spent my share of time in the “deer woods”, I’ve heard quite a lot of strange sounds – some welcome and others not as much so! I’m sometimes surprised, too, by just which critters make each noise. It’s not always what you’d expect!
I agree that some animals do make very strange noises, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect. However in the case of ‘bolving’, I think the human animals definitely take first prize for the fear factor and unique sporting idea! 🙂
Giving that all of the streets surrounding us are named after birds (I myself live in Sandpiper Place) I’m just surprised we haven’t got a Phalarope/ Wadepiper Close or Gardens etc.
Great post. Whilst I knew about your volunteering I didn’t know you researched antique books as part of that role. Fascinating stuff, a great job for anyone who loves books.
Hi Tracy,
Our estate is based on engineers names … Brunel, Collett, Priddy etc. … Nothing as nice as birds I’m afraid!
You set me a challenge with your comment and whilst I couldn’t find an address with Wadepiper in it, believe it or not, I did manage to find one Phalarope … Phalarope Way in Chatham, Kent.
Phalarope is quite a tongue twister at the best of time, but having to give this one out as your address over the phone, could be an interesting exercise 🙂
I’m not antiquarian book expert, by any stretch of the imagination. It is more the case, that if we get any first edition books donated, then I will check them out online, to decide whether it is feasible to sell them in the shop, or whether a better price could be realised by sending them off to our Amazon team for listing.
I love sorting through the books in general, although I spot so many great titles that I would like to read, that I could easily spend a small fortune. I really do have to sit on my hands sometimes 🙂
I hope that you are all ready for Christmas and have a good weekend 🙂
Those are all new words to me. I’ve seen sandpipers before but I don’t think I’ve ever been near a phalarope. Bolving sounds a bit like moose calls.
Hi Joy,
Moose and deer calls are very similar aren’t they? The human variety doesn’t sound that much different in all honesty, although what any of those bolvers would do if a real stag appeared and challenged them … who knows 🙂
I too have seen plenty of sandpipers, but apparently phalaropes live much further out to sea, off both the UK and US coasts, only here we generally see grey phalaropes and in the US you tend to have the red variety.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, it is always good to hear from you 🙂
All three words are new to me.
Hi Vicki,
Sad that I am, I actually look forwad to discovering words in a book, that I have no idea about. The research is all part of the fun and I don’t mind the reading being interrupted at all 🙂