animal words

Butterfly ties

Butterflies and romance novels

animal words

Big-eared rabbit-eared

a small Australian marsupial, language names, and romance novels

contemporary romance

a word to the poem

LEOPARD, n. This is the common name in English for Panthera pardus, a spotted, golden-furred big cat that lives in various habitats across Africa and Asia. The etymology of “leopard” is fairly straightforward: most likely, it’s “leo” for lion and “pard” from pardos, meaning “spotted.” “Like a lion, but

animal words

Gerfaunts and orafles

GIRAFFE, n. This word, referring to the long-necked, spotted African mammal, comes to English through French, where it used to be spelled “giraffe” but is now spelled “girafe,” and in either case its origin is Arabic zarāfa. Before English settled on “giraffe,” we used to call these animals camelopards, gerfaunts,

animal words

Coneys

RABBIT, n. My baby learned to say this word. Actually, he learned to say “babbit,” which is even better. Did you know that children simplify words they can’t pronounce in consistent, predictable ways? As in, not all kids employ the same rules, but each individual kid settles on their

animal words

If the sky falls, we shall catch larks

LARK, n. I went chasing after this word because I was trying to decide if one of my fictional characters could say they were doing something as “a lark.” And then I thought, wait, how old is that expression? Why is doing something purely for amusement, or on a whim,

animal words

Various holes

FOXHOLE, n., RABBIT HOLE, n., SPIDER HOLE, n. A few weeks ago, I wrote a newsletter about “pigeonhole” and ever since, I’ve been thinking about the various metaphors we’ve assigned to other animal dwellings. World War I trench warfare gave rise to “foxhole” (also “fox-hole”) as a name

animal words

Pigeonries

PIGEONHOLE, n., v. Pigeons have come up a lot lately in my life, so I’ve been thinking about related words. Here is a thing I just learned from my friend, Elia Winters, who is writing a historical romance about the US Army Pigeon Service in World War II: pigeons

animal words

Head first

CHIPMUNK, n. In case you don’t live in an area of North America or Siberia where these small mammals, genus Tamias, can be found, here is a picture of Tamias striatus, the Eastern chipmunk. These cute little rodents are all over my yard and sometimes they make a kind

animal words

Froglets

FROG, n. We have seen several frogs while out in nature this week, and my beloved is in “frog mode” (this means, according to him, caring exclusively about frogs), so clearly I had to look up “frog” in the dictionary. “Frog” comes from Old English “frogga,” which is a form

plant words

Spiny things

ECHINACEA, n. Today my beloved was planting purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, a plant native to North America, sometimes used in medicine, that looks like this: Echinacea, a word that no longer looks real to me after the number of times I have typed it into Google, comes from the Greek

animal words

Swan around and swan song

SWAN (ABOUT/AROUND/OFF), v. A friend asked about the origin of this expression a couple weeks ago, and here’s what I’ve found. It seems to be primarily British, first used at the end of the nineteenth century. Initially, it meant moving like a swan—swimming, gliding. Because

animal words

Mean as a suck-egg weasel

WEASEL, n. The English language unfairly maligns this small mammalian predator, using its name to mean a conniving, duplicitous person, or the act of “weaseling out” of an obligation or a promise. Sometimes writing teachers talk about “weasel words,” language used to create the impression of citation or authority where

animal words

Mild deadliness

REQUIN, n. This is the French word for “shark.” It came up in Chapter 42 of Moby-Dick, which is the chapter on whiteness. It’s a whirlwind tour of our societal associations with the color, plus discussions of a bunch of white animals like sharks and polar bears, and how

animal words

Cursed content

JINX, n., v. I started thinking about the word “jinx” today when a friend on twitter was surveying people about (1) whether they held with the superstition that it’s bad luck to talk about good things that might happen (in general, or specifically attracting the evil eye) and (2)

animal words

Flukes and celebrity sightings

FLUKE, n. I saw whales for the first time ever this week. I also saw dolphins, and three coyotes while walking in Griffith Park, and that most Los Angeles of wild animals, a celebrity. I don’t know why I’m being coy about this: it was Natalie Portman. She’

animal words

Sea scoundrels

ESCROW, n. and ESCROC, n. A nice thing about writing this newsletter is that every week, I get to have a moment where I go, “oh, this is it, this is the one.” I look up words every day—maybe I should start keeping a journal of words I have

animal words

The inevitable sparrowfart

SPARROWFART, n. I was gonna write about another word this week—and whatever I had to say was gonna be thematically coherent with all the books I read, and also really intelligent and poignant, you know, the kind of essay that illuminates the world in a way you’ve never

animal words

Not all rats are kings

RAT KING, n. This newsletter has discussed etymologies related to foxes, butterflies, lobsters, and dogs, and this week, it’s all about rats—or rather, rat kings. A rat king, in case you are blessed not to know this, is a bunch of rats knotted together by their tails or

animal words

Curs and handkerchiefs

HANDKERCHIEF, n. This word has nothing to do with anything in this newsletter, but it’s just delightful to me. “Kerchief” is from the French couvre-chef, literally cover-head. Like in “curfew,” couvre-feu or cover-fire, couvre reduces down to “ker/cur.” And then “hand” is straight-up Old English, just tacked on

animal words

They know the secrets of the sea and do not bark

LOBSTER, n. Okay, since the etymology for “butterfly” was so rewarding, I wanted to check out some other animal words. For “lobster,” Bon Appétit is on the case and I’m just gonna share a chunk of their article because it’s wonderful: …the Ancient Romans went for concision: their

animal words

Butter gremlins

Before I get into words & books this week, I want you all to know that my beloved says “I LOVE IT, IT’S IN THE NEWSLETTER, DONE” whenever I mention an interesting word. You have to imagine those phrases as they would be spoken in this Key & Peele

animal words

The Fantastic Mr. Renard

RENARD, n. This is how you say “fox” in French. It’s not what you’d expect from the Latin, where the word for “fox” is variously spelled vulpes, vulpis, volpes, and provides the source of English vulpine, which means “related to foxes” and also “crafty, cunning.” Old French did