Friday, December 31, 2010

Pedantry and furrydom: A bad combination

"Nice antlers, dude."

"I don't want to sound pedantic, but really these are my 'attire'. I like to save the term 'antler' for the lowest branch or tine closest to the eye. Some people call it the 'brow-antler', but that would be redundant, since 'antler' simply means 'before the eye' ('antoillier', from 'ante ocularis'). The other branches are the bezantler (or bay), then the tres-tine (or tray, or royal), then the advancers, and finally the sur-royals coming out from the palm. With the English language giving us specific words to make these fine distinctions it would be ungrateful not to use them. Where did everyone go?"
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1. These all sound like they could be nautical terms for the sails of a square-rigged ship in a Patrick O'Brian novel. Fortunately there is little overlap apart from the royal. Otherwise one could easily become confused and imagine that Maturin and Captain Aubrey were fighting Napolean's navy while riding around on large Cervidae, and that would be silly.


2. Bubenik and Bubenik(2008) suggested that the large, fused-together antlers attire of the Mööse evolved as parabolic reflectors to focus sounds. This allows Møøse to monitor private conversations from a distance and explains why so many of them are working as spies and private investigators. However, Darren Naish does not rate for this theory.

3. It is not clear whether these terms also apply to the Hornèd Rabbit.

13 comments:

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

It is not clear whether these terms also apply to the Hornèd Rabbit.

Who maimed those poor Wolpertingers?

This classic Tex Avery bit immediately came to mind.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

However, Darren Naish does not rate for this theory.

Perhaps Darren does not realize that it's the male meese who make private detective, while antlers are not needed for members of the species playing the role of femme fatale.
~

Hamish Mack said...

Further to the subject of the post, it may interest your readers to know that ants do not have antlers.I think that they may be impostors, Sir
I remain your humble servant, Sir

mikey said...

But dood, you should see the auntlers on my mom's sister!

vacuumslayer said...

Ah, yes, the "mythological" jackelope.

Jackelopes Isreal!

Keep thinking otherwise, sheeple, but don't come crying to me when one rips your throat out.

Did someone say "antlers"?

Substance McGravitas said...

Clever folks know the thrill of the caribou antler. (Furry!)

Smut Clyde said...

Next you will be expecting me to believe that Treehorn was an Entler.

mikey said...

In the mid-seventies I was playing serious tennis at the A- level and was considering looking for a coach and going pro.

In those days there was only one shoe: Tretorn. And you're damn right I wore it. And, for what it's worth, I never used a steel racket...

Smut Clyde said...

Teh pose of the right-hand jackelope is interesting. Basically these Renaissance illustrators did not know a great number of animal poses, and one of them was the prancing leap with both front paws out together like this. I believe they learned this pose from a couple of Roman mosaic floors that had been found a few decades earlier but you'll have to take my word for it because I can't be arsed finding links to the originals. Anyway, this particular gait is evidently not so convincing as a form of bunny locomotion, so the other artist has moved the left-hand bunny into a position where it obscures the right-hand bunny's back paws.

There is probably an entire literature about this pictorial tradition among people whose job it is to think about such things, but I can't be arsed looking for it.

tigris said...

Further to the subject of the post, it may interest your readers to know that ants do not have antlers.

Then who answers the door and brings the drinks?

mikey said...

All of which leads to the question "has anybody around here EVER been arsed?"

fish said...

I believe those rabbits belong to Imogene.

Smut Clyde said...

"has anybody around here EVER been arsed?"
Ask the buttler.