My weekend in pictures

Synchonised swimming for ducks

Man, I'm thrilled with the macro function on my new camera. This is a tiny, tiny daisy in the grass - about as big as my thumbnail. It has a little insect on it too.

Ace fiery sunset last night - too bad I couldn't find a more aesthetically pleasing vantage point to capture it.


Dunno what these flowers are but I love the colour.

Off Chapel Street

One of the stone eagles on the flaking facade of an old building on Chapel Street

Tomorrow I will actually write a proper blog. How was your weekend?

On my way home from work...

Oooh, awesome cloudage!

Hey, look at the great close-up I took with my new camera! A hydrangea in the Royal Botanic Gardens

Turtle pootling away from the lake at the gardens.

I've never seen oriential lilies outside a floral arrangement before. The Botanic Gardens are ace.


Moody river scene from Princes Bridge.

Big silver beany street art seaty thing - with beads of rain - on Elizabeth Street.

These were actually taken on my way home Thursday, but I have had computer iss-yoos.

Come with me to Cuddle Court

A friend posted the above photo on my Myspace on the weekend. I don't know if it's real or not, but I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to live in Happy Lane?' (Not least because it looks very pretty.)

This got me wondering if there was a Glee or Gleeful Street in Melbourne. The closest is Gleeson. There are, however, numerous streets with names relating to happiness. A selection -

Bliss Street
Elysium Court
Elysian Road
Halcyon Avenue/Court/Drive/Grove/Way
Happy Valley Court
Happy Jack Way
Jolly Street
Joy Street
Laughing Waters Road
Merry Street
Nirvana Avenue/Close/Crescent/Place
Utopia Street

And then I got to wondering about funny/weird/street names in general. Here are my favourites for Melbourne.

Budgie Court
Cuddle Court
Doona Avenue

(a doona is what Aussies call a quilt/duvet)
Sesame Street (x2!)
Goodenough Court
Hit or Miss Road
Pick'n Pan Way
Tingle Close
Upsndowns Road

I would love to live in Cuddle Court even more than Happy Lane. Were I a less law-abiding citizen, I would steal all these signs and hang them on my wall.

For my full compilation of funny/strange/cool Melbourne street names, visit my listography page. And yes, before you say anything, I do have too much time on my hands!

Are there funny/odd/cool street names where you live? (I know you have one Julian!)

It's Super Word Nerd!

I am such a nerd. I read Foyle's Philavery in one sitting on Friday night. I couldn't stop! I have kept a list of my favourites, but in the interests of not swamping you with another list of words, I'm going to save that for another post.

Oh, I will mention just one thing. In the pages of Philavery I found a name for a condition that afflicts my friend Hannah, only I don't think it occurred to either of us that it was an affliction that might even have a name. You see, she has a major aversion to the feel of cottonwool balls. She cannot stand to touch them. It turns out this is known as haptodysphoria - "an unpleasant sensation felt by some people in response to certain tactile sensations".

Christopher Foyle writes that in compiling the book, he came across haptodysphorics who have reactions to the feel of kiwi fruit, jelly, hamsters and um...old forks.

And on Saturday night...

I whiled away several hours at www.rinkwords.com, a site reader The Infamous Mrs Blueballs mentioned in the comments last week. It is a treasure trove of interesting stuff about words. The collection of collective nouns is highly amusing, but my favourite thing is the lengthy list of funny and unusual words. I took notes there too but again, I'll save that for later.

Oh, I will mention just one thing - did you know that there is a word to describe the act of causing a frog or toad to jump up in the air? Well, there is! It's "spanghew"! That's hilarious.

And one more thing! There is a word for the worship of words - epeolatry.

The pleasure of binding

Part of the charm of Foyle's Philavery is its presentation - it's a solid little book with an old-fashioned hard cover and fabric binding on the spine bearing the name in gold lettering. It also has a little red ribbon to keep your place (not that I needed to use it).

Does anyone else find pleasure in the presentation of a book? Books these days generally lack the visual and tactile appeal of those from years gone by, don't they? (Geez, how old do I sound?).

I had to buy one of my other favourite books, Strunk & White's The Elements of Style (writing style, that is) when I opened it up and saw that it had 'hello' and 'goodbye' printed inside the front and back covers . I liked the idea of something so silly on a book on an ostensibly dry topic and it reminded me of the sort of things I used to scribble on my exercise books when I was at school (along with "Private! Keep out!"). The book is also pleasingly cloth bound and has quirky illustrations, unlike the little softcover edition I had when I was at university.

Do you have a book that you like for its presentation?

Philavery, hideous goodness and Coco Pops

I bought Foyle's Philavery on my way home from work tonight. It's cold and wet and I am tired and headachey, and very much looking foward to curling up on the couch under a blanket and losing myself among the collection of uncommon and pleasing words. No doubt I will share my favourites with you soon.

While at the bookshop, I saw quite a few titles that are on my list of must-read books. I was a tiny bit tempted to grab them all and buy the lot, but fiscal reason reigned.

The joy of mastery

As I approached the steps at Federation Square on the way to work this morning, a toddler with a mop of curls was tentatively walking down them holding on to her mother's hand. She smiled at me, clearly thrilled with her efforts. I smiled back and thought about the pleasure and pride that come from attempting and mastering a new skill.

It's been quite a while since I learnt to do something new. I think it's time I put my pupil hat on...

Glam tram driver

I caught the tram home tonight because of the cold snap. The driver appeared to be sporting a wig modelled on a 70s glam rocker 'do, but I think it was actually his own hair. It was so appalling that it was glorious.

Does anyone else delight in things that are so bad they are good? The Go Fug Yourself girls often do - they had an amusing entry today on Sarah Brightman's whackjob stage costume. I want to memorise the line "This is so much no, yet it all adds up to YES" for the next time I see some hideous goodness.

Cocoloco

I had a craving for Coco Pops the other day and have had a big bowl of the chocolatey cereal for breakfast the past two mornings. Mmmm....just like a chocolate milkshake...only crunchy. I had a bowl of them this afternoon too, and my boss disagreed when I insisted cereal is "anytime food". Pah!

I brought the half-full box of Coco Pops home with me tonight which means I carried it around the book shop in a clear shopping bag. Normally I have a calico carry bag or similar with me, but I had to scrounge up a plastic bag in the kitchen at work to avoid having to just tuck the box under my arm and go. I felt a little self-conscious about carting around a box of kiddy cereal - it doesn't really go with Foyle's Philavery - but the incongruousness of it still pleased me.

Fubsy, intaxication and tall bikes

I learnt a clutch of new words yesterday in an article in The Age about a collection of words that are verging on extinction due to lack of use. The people in charge of Collins Dictionary have placed them on a list of words that could be cut from the next edition unless they can find evidence of them being bandied about (outside articles about their endangerment).

My favourite is fubsy, which means short and stout ("I'm a little teapot fubsy....."?), and I like niddering (cowardly) and exuviate (to shed) and abstergent (cleansing or scouring).

And made up words!

Regular reader Victoria thoughtfully sent me a link to the latest contributions to the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which ask readers to take a real word, and alter it slightly to create a new word.

Here is my selection of the winners -

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

5. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

6. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

7. Glibido: All talk and no action.

8. Arachnoleptic fit: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

9. Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

10. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

(Hmmm...wondering if I should start a blog devoted to words...)

EDIT: Reader Julian, with his "Urban Legends Debunker" hat on, informs me that there is no such thing as the Mensa Invitational. The above list of words is from a weekly competition in Washington Post about 10 years ago called Style Invitational. No matter - it's new to me and they are still great words.

Listing

I am going a little silly at http://www.listography.com/frisky. It's kinda pointless, but I like it. I like looking at other people's lists too.

Silly bike update

First pennyfarthings and unicycles, now tall bikes. Walking home beside the river tonight a man zipped past me on a bike that must have been more than two metres tall. Two metres! The wheels were standard size, but the seat was atop a tall frame way above. People are odd, aren't they? And luckily the bridges along the river aren't low (although I'm sure I would laugh my head off if he smacked into one a la Wile E Coyote).

Gleemonger

When I was walking up the street this evening, I looked up and saw the word "IRONMONGER" built into the stone facade of an old building that now houses a fish and chip shop.

"Now there's a word you don't hear much these days," I thought. "Monger. Certainly not in the sense of somebody who sells something, anyway. Why aren't car salesmen called carmongers? Why aren't there shoemongers? Bookmongers? Meatmongers?".

Apart from fishmonger (which you don't hear much), all the uses of "monger" these days that I can think of are negative - scaremonger, gossipmonger, hatemonger, warmonger.

Anyhoo, there is no point to this waffling, except for that I have decided to try to rescue monger from its negative connotations by calling myself a gleemonger. I wish I'd thought of that when I named my blog....

I have also decided I want to marry a man whose last name is Gleeson...might be reducing the pool of available men to a dribble however...