Friday, June 29, 2012

Word(s) for the Day-- #%(#

This post is for all of you out there who are still 13 years old, no matter how many years you've lived.

These are (I believe) all of the words from Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged that refer to the "droppings/dung/excrement" of specific animals.  Not just generic euphemisms for poop; I have no doubt that would be another 80 or so*.  No, these are the entries that name specific creatures, or at least specific classes or types of creature, and their respective leavings.

album graecum (dogs/hyenas, especially when used in tanning)
argol (camels, especially as used for fuel)
buffalo chips  (buffalo, natch)
buttons (sheep)
casson (cattle)
cast (earthworms)
cow pat (cows)
cowshard (cows)
cowsharn (cows)
crottels (hares)
fiants ("fox, wolf, boar, or badger," which is delightfully specific and various at the same time)
frass (insects)
fumet/fewmet (deer, or dragons if you're a fan of Madeline L'Engle)
guano (bats)
horse apples  (horses, of courses)
horseshit (horses)
lesses ("beast of prey"; the OED has "the dung of a ‘ravenous’ animal, as a wild boar, wolf, or bear")
mute (bird)
ornithocopros (birds)
pellet (mouse or rabbit)
shard (cow)
spraints (the winner! Defined in its entirety as "otter's dung".)
whitewash  (birds)

*Remind me to share my list of English words that can be used to mean "snow" at some point.  I'm up to 78 of those so far-- far more than the Inuit (three or four base words plus modifiers).

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