A zebrinny is the offspring of a stallion and a zebra mare. A very rare hybrid. Usually only males survive, but they are infertile, like mules.
Other zebroids, or zebra hybrids with members of the Horse Family, include the zorse, zebonkey, zonkey, zebronkey, zebrula, zebrass, zedonk, zebadonk, horbra, hebra, and zebret. Who knew zebras were so promiscuous? From Ass to Zebra, things are not black and white! PERPLEXED BY PROBLEMS OF PROLIXITY? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX THOSE!
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Iceblink is a white glare on the underside of low clouds, reflected up from ice on the horizon.
This phenomenon has been used by Inuit hunters to navigate since time immemorial. We westerners picked it up from them in the nineteenth century. Away from the Poles and the Inuit, icebling is more popular, tangible, and navigable. Kim Kardashian in Paris, that sort of thing. BEMUSED BY THE VARIETY OF VOCABULARY? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX THAT! A gablock, or gavelock, is a spur or blade attached to a fighting cock's ankle. From 'gaff', Middle English for hook.
Talk about adding injury to insult. WORRIED ABOUT THE WEIRDNESS OF WORDS? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX ANYTHING! Ennui is a feeling of satisfaction and slight boredom. Of course it's French- who else would have such a perverse state of mind?
Aboulia is a much more definite word, meaning inability to decide or do anything. From the Greek for lack of will. It is regarded by doctors as a Disorder of Diminished Motivation. So that's what's wrong with me! IS IT ALL GREEK TO YOU? PETER THE PROOFER CAN HELP! Idioglossia is a private language of children, often twins. From the Greek- idio (peculiar) and glossa (language).
Those horror-movie twins with matching pinafores and ribbons, and piercing green eyes, would definitely use an idioglossia! WORRIED BY THE WEIRDNESS OF WORDS? PETER THE PROOFER IS HERE TO HELP! If you want to seal off a cannon muzzle or an organ pipe, then you will require a tampion. From the French, obviously.
STRUGGLING WITH ENGLISH VOCABULARY OR SPELLING? PETER THE PROOFER WILL SAVE YOU! No white Christmas for me, I just want to be therapeutically covered in hot sand.
From the Latin 'sabulum', sand or gravel, sabburation can also mean putting ballast into ships. Either way, it puts lead in your pencil. PERPLEXED BY TEXT? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX IT! The Scots have their own word for everything too. No need to rely on the damned Sassenach for vocabulary.
A jockteleg is a folding knife. Scots, 17th century, possibly referring to leg-shaped knife-handles or possibly a Scots corruption of 'Jacques de Liege', a reference to the Liege cutlery widely used in Scotland at the time. Jock has two legs, a sporran, and a folding knife. PERPLEXED BY TEXT? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX IT! The Greeks have a word for everything (bathys- deep).
Things pertaining to the ocean depths are bathysmal. Some sources insist a depth of over one hundred fathoms would be required. If you can't fathom that, you'd better google it I suppose. PERPLEXED BY TEXT? PETER THE PROOFER CAN FIX ANY TEXTUAL SITUATION FAST! Guilty of inappropriate attitude in a poem? Write another one to recant. From the Greek. The first recorded palinode was by Stesichorus in the seventh century BC. In it he recanted an earlier poem which blamed Helen of Troy for the Trojan War.
These days Stesichorus would be 'called out' for royal misogyny and made to twitter-grovel before the Princess of Troy. The face that launched a thousand ships will always be with us! PROBLEMS OF PHRASING? PETER THE PROOFER CAN TURN ANYTHING INTO ENGLISH, EVEN GERMAN! |
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