Pingo et al

Printer-friendly version

Author: 

Blog About: 

I've just found a delightful piece in the current BBC News Magazine on the work of a fellow who is collecting words that describe geographic phenomenon. The concept is wonderful and I think, important. The photos are lovely and the language enthralling. Have a look if you'd like. Words are so enchanting. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27780066

Joani

Comments

Serendipity

erin's picture

I just ran into the word pingo yesterday in reference to a possible explanation of a mysterious phenomenon in Siberia. A pingo is a frozen ball of earth and slush under the surface creating a protrusion that becomes a declivity when the pingo melts. They occur near the margins of permafrosted landscape and can be stable for decades but with climate change, pingos are melting all over the world, leaving small ponds in raw-looking dimples in the land. The oddity in Siberia is that a deep hole has been left, as if the pingo exploded instead of just melting.

Fascinating. :)

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Words

I was on my cycling tour of Australia when I spoke to a couple of young geologists at a backpacking hostel. I was talking about winter, and the way the wind drove the snow, and one of them said "That's amazing! You are the first person I have ever met to use 'sastrugi' in normal conversation and know what it means!"

Mit einigen Wurst!

erin's picture

It's a kind of German pasta, right? :P

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Lol

Moving crescent-shaped dunes...

Ja :)

erin's picture

I had actually heard the word before since I grew up on the edge of a large set of dunes but I would not have been able to use it in conversation. :)

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

I've always enjoyed referring

I've always enjoyed referring to certain women (to my wife and among friends) as being spathic.

It's a geology term, meaning "having good cleavage"

(Callipygian is also good)


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.