The Whippet #137: Please don’t make me fight a fire ant
thewhippet.substack.com
Today's animals: Sarcastic Fringehead, Stoplight Loosejaw, Silken Windhound, Raspberry Crazy Ant. Also: my all-time favourite letter from an advice column
After spending a good 30 seconds wondering which of my friends would also find the frog cross-stitch funny and then deciding that actually, I would love to hang that on my wall, I was pretty devastated that the link to the pattern didn’t work. So in case anyone is in the same boat, I thought I would share the result of my googling, which I hope is the same link that was intended: https://shitpostsampler.gumroad.com/l/GnAAa
Not 10 minutes before starting reading this edition I had gone down a rabbit hole of "window" etymology because someone said the words "wind" and "window" close together in a sentence and I was like "that has to be related".
Turns out "window" is from the old norse "vindauga", which is "vindr" (wind) + "auga" (eye). So an eye (on the wall or roof) for the wind to come in.
From https://www.etymonline.com/word/window: "Most Germanic languages later adopted a version of Latin fenestra to describe the glass version (such as German Fenster, Swedish fönster), and English used fenester as a parallel word till mid-16c."
English never fully adopted fenester, but that does explain "defenestrate", which means "to throw something out of a window". By all rights it seems like it should be "dewindow", but I don't make the rules.
For the record, a great deal of what I value so highly about The Whippet, etc., is that I can't predict what's coming beyond something whimsical/fascinating/novel. I get the value of organization, but so.much. of life requires tight organization that I venture there may be space for the unexpected.
Those Raspberry crazy ants could be diabolical in the modern techo world! Perhaps they are searching for a nice warm place to hide away. I remember once putting my hand into a jar of lollies and tumbling a few sugary jubes in,then tasting a blast of really hot firey chilli spice. I thought wow, i must have bought the chilli flavour without knowing. It was only then that i looked down into the jar and saw it was full of ants! needles to say, i started spitting out the jubes all over the place and madly wiping away the pesky ants crawling all over me. Who knew that that formic acid could be so tasty :0
Did anyone else do Competitive Forensics in school? Maybe this isn't a thing in other countries, and in fact moving around this one a lot of people don't seem to know what it is. I wish I could say it was quick-solving a crime with science, but instead it's competitive public speaking. Kind of like debate, but usually not against another person and traditionally extemporaneous. There are rehearsed and extemporaneous categories in a range of areas- I remember a friend did a prepared speech on the Fibonacci sequence, and two others did a made-up-on-the-spot Shakespearean retelling of...I think it was an Aerosmith song? I just did a Rowan Atkinson bit. It was a hoot and a holler!
After spending a good 30 seconds wondering which of my friends would also find the frog cross-stitch funny and then deciding that actually, I would love to hang that on my wall, I was pretty devastated that the link to the pattern didn’t work. So in case anyone is in the same boat, I thought I would share the result of my googling, which I hope is the same link that was intended: https://shitpostsampler.gumroad.com/l/GnAAa
Special thanks for the etymology spiral! :) In Russian, the word ‘door’ literally sounds like ‘Dhwer’ and now I know the reason why.
Not 10 minutes before starting reading this edition I had gone down a rabbit hole of "window" etymology because someone said the words "wind" and "window" close together in a sentence and I was like "that has to be related".
Turns out "window" is from the old norse "vindauga", which is "vindr" (wind) + "auga" (eye). So an eye (on the wall or roof) for the wind to come in.
From https://www.etymonline.com/word/window: "Most Germanic languages later adopted a version of Latin fenestra to describe the glass version (such as German Fenster, Swedish fönster), and English used fenester as a parallel word till mid-16c."
English never fully adopted fenester, but that does explain "defenestrate", which means "to throw something out of a window". By all rights it seems like it should be "dewindow", but I don't make the rules.
Anyway, etymology wormholes are fun!
Good first edition of the year!
For the record, a great deal of what I value so highly about The Whippet, etc., is that I can't predict what's coming beyond something whimsical/fascinating/novel. I get the value of organization, but so.much. of life requires tight organization that I venture there may be space for the unexpected.
Those Raspberry crazy ants could be diabolical in the modern techo world! Perhaps they are searching for a nice warm place to hide away. I remember once putting my hand into a jar of lollies and tumbling a few sugary jubes in,then tasting a blast of really hot firey chilli spice. I thought wow, i must have bought the chilli flavour without knowing. It was only then that i looked down into the jar and saw it was full of ants! needles to say, i started spitting out the jubes all over the place and madly wiping away the pesky ants crawling all over me. Who knew that that formic acid could be so tasty :0
Sad to note there are no Silken Windhound breeders in Australia. A business opportunity?!?
For a few intense moments I wished for nothing more than that young man to attend the family meal.
Did anyone else do Competitive Forensics in school? Maybe this isn't a thing in other countries, and in fact moving around this one a lot of people don't seem to know what it is. I wish I could say it was quick-solving a crime with science, but instead it's competitive public speaking. Kind of like debate, but usually not against another person and traditionally extemporaneous. There are rehearsed and extemporaneous categories in a range of areas- I remember a friend did a prepared speech on the Fibonacci sequence, and two others did a made-up-on-the-spot Shakespearean retelling of...I think it was an Aerosmith song? I just did a Rowan Atkinson bit. It was a hoot and a holler!
I'm not crying. You're crying.
Bit late to the party (catching up on my Inbox), but it was worth the wait.
EXCELLENT mini. Etymology, crazy ant facts, and a teary jerker? Gooood stuff.
Yeah, still crying. But thanks for the post. It is VALUED as a record, a statement.
Lovely lovely issue! And yes, a theme for Whippet Cetera would be good to explore.