Slobberchops
Oct. 13th, 2005 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyI've been out and about today; far, far away from the City by the Sea and into the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.* I like looking out my window and over the Southern Ocean, but I must say it would be nice to look up sometimes and see mountains silhouetted blue against the sky.
I always enjoy going past Mount Elephant. I think what I enjoy most about it is that there is a neat little sign on the side of the road, pointing towards "Mount Elephant", just in case you haven't noticed the elephant-shaped mountain in the middle of a large expanse of flat land.
I also always enjoy going through one of my favourite place-names, the incomparable Woady Yaloak.** I want to live in Woady Yaloak! Only not really, for Woady Yaloak the place is nowhere near as interesting as Woady Yaloak the name, which is a shame. Woady Yaloak is a name that shouldn't be wasted. Then again, it's good to find an unexpected treasure like that in the middle of nowhere, so perhaps it's not really wasted at all. Elsewhere I saw a sign for a place called Piggoreet, but I didn't have time to go there. I don't think I'd like to live in Piggoreet anyway.
I lunched in Ballarat, a city I've never really liked for no good reason. Now I have a reason, because I was ripped off by a parking meter. It said on it "80 cents an hour", but when I put in two dollars I only got 30 minutes. Hmph. There was also an appallingly named hairdresser, but that's for another post.
And, and... I bought a book. I've been looking for this for ages. A long time ago, I read Made in America, Bill Bryson's history of the development of American English. Near the start of the book he was writing about words the Pilgrims brought with them that then dropped out of currency on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the words he gives as an example made me sit up and say, "My grandmother said that!" It made me happy to know that a word thought lost had somehow survived and made its way to the antipodes and the colourful vocabulary of my grandmother. I've always remembered that moment of pleased discovery... but I promptly forgot the word itself. Whenever I've thought to look in a bookshop for the book to remind me, it's never been in stock. So I snapped it up when I saw it today.
And the word? Slobberchops, being a messy eater. A most excellent word.
* Well... since I'm home again, it wasn't that far. But it was quite a long way.
** Pronounced "Woad-y Yell-ock".
I always enjoy going past Mount Elephant. I think what I enjoy most about it is that there is a neat little sign on the side of the road, pointing towards "Mount Elephant", just in case you haven't noticed the elephant-shaped mountain in the middle of a large expanse of flat land.
I also always enjoy going through one of my favourite place-names, the incomparable Woady Yaloak.** I want to live in Woady Yaloak! Only not really, for Woady Yaloak the place is nowhere near as interesting as Woady Yaloak the name, which is a shame. Woady Yaloak is a name that shouldn't be wasted. Then again, it's good to find an unexpected treasure like that in the middle of nowhere, so perhaps it's not really wasted at all. Elsewhere I saw a sign for a place called Piggoreet, but I didn't have time to go there. I don't think I'd like to live in Piggoreet anyway.
I lunched in Ballarat, a city I've never really liked for no good reason. Now I have a reason, because I was ripped off by a parking meter. It said on it "80 cents an hour", but when I put in two dollars I only got 30 minutes. Hmph. There was also an appallingly named hairdresser, but that's for another post.
And, and... I bought a book. I've been looking for this for ages. A long time ago, I read Made in America, Bill Bryson's history of the development of American English. Near the start of the book he was writing about words the Pilgrims brought with them that then dropped out of currency on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the words he gives as an example made me sit up and say, "My grandmother said that!" It made me happy to know that a word thought lost had somehow survived and made its way to the antipodes and the colourful vocabulary of my grandmother. I've always remembered that moment of pleased discovery... but I promptly forgot the word itself. Whenever I've thought to look in a bookshop for the book to remind me, it's never been in stock. So I snapped it up when I saw it today.
And the word? Slobberchops, being a messy eater. A most excellent word.
* Well... since I'm home again, it wasn't that far. But it was quite a long way.
** Pronounced "Woad-y Yell-ock".
