For the Word Nerds, from Dr. Thursday

What are the "control" words - the words of command - by which one
tells
a HORSE what to do?

From "general knowledge" one usually comes to know that
Giddyap means "get moving" (= get thee up)
and
Whoa means "stop"
but are there others, like, turn left, or right, or backup, etc???

If this seems too easy - what are these words in other languages? (In
particular I would be curious about their Latin and Greek equivalents.)

Ohhh, Juicy

I already posted this on C. P., but I had to bring it over here too, as it will delight the multiloquent soul.

The sycophantic Fox and the gullible Raven

By Guy Wetmore Carryl

A raven sat upon a tree,
    And not a word he spoke, for
His beak contained a piece of Brie.
    Or, maybe it was Roquefort.
We'll make it any kind you please --
At all events it was a cheese.

Beneath the tree's umbrageous limb
    A hungry fox sat smiling;
He saw the raven watching him,
    And spoke in words beguiling:
"J'admire," said he, "ton beau plumage!"
(The which was simply persiflage.)

Two things there are, no doubt you know,
    To which a fox is used:
A rooster that is bound to crow,
    A crow that's bound to roost;
And whichsoever he espies
He tells the most unblushing lies.

"Sweet fowl," he said, "I understand
    You're more than merely natty;
I hear you sing to beat the band
    And Adelina Patti.
Pray render with your liquid tongue
A bit from Gotterdammerung."

This subtle speech was aimed to please
    The crow, and it succeeded;
He thought no bird in all the trees
    Could sing as well as he did.
In flattery completely doused,
He gave the "Jewel Song" from Faust.

But gravitation's law, of course,
    As Isaac Newton showed it,
Exerted on the cheese its force,
    And elsewhere soon bestowed it.
In fact, there is no need to tell
What happened when to earth it fell.

I blush to add that when the bird
    Took in the situation
He said one brief, emphatic word,
    Unfit for publication.
The fox was greatly startled, but
He only sighed and answered, "Tut."

The Moral is: A fox is bound
    To be a shameless sinner.
And also: When the cheese comes round
    You know it's after dinner.
But (what is only known to few)
The fox is after dinner, too.

Some Words that Came up in Latin Class Last Week

nascent

coalesced

fasces

internecine

A European Geography Tangent

I'm reading a book about a priest who helped the starving peoples of Europe after World War II. I got a little distracted with the numerous place names I was unfamiliar with. Here's the list from just one page, plus a few that came up in my digging through an atlas to find them. See if you can find where these are...

Bukowina (or Bucovina)
Bessarabia
Bachka (I have to admit I haven't found this one yet)\
Silesia
Ermland (haven't found this one either)
Pomerania
Sudetenland
Potsdam
Galicia
Carpathian Mountains

Have fun!

Some European Peoples and Places

Kind of a random list - I'm cleaning out old notebooks today...

Breton
Andalusia
Sudetenland
Magyar
Versailles
Salzburg
Chartres
Mont St. Michel
Rhine
Rhone
Alps
Pyrenees
Apennines

An Odd Word that Keeps Coming Up: Palimpsest

I first came across this word just a few weeks ago while watching a PBS NOVA program on an old Archimedes text discovered hidden under a medieval prayer book (talk about recycling!).

According to dictionary.com it means...

a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.
[Origin: 1655–65; derived from the Latin palimpséstus, derived from the Greek palímpséstos rubbed again (pálin again + pséstós scraped, rubbed, verbid of psân to rub smooth)]

Fr. Ronald Knox uses it in a sermon on the Holy Eucharist in which he discusses the Canticle of Canticles...

And that book, as we all know, is a kind of palimpsest, in which the saints of every age have read between the lines, and found there the appropriate language in which to express their love for God, God's love for them. (from "The Window in the Wall", found in Pastoral and Occasional Sermons, Ignatius Press).

A Word Challenge

Hello All,

Dr. Thursday thought you might be able to help him with this word challenge and asked me to pass it along to you. Gilbertgirl? Margaret? Anyone? :)

Category: biology. I am seeking a general or class-word which means
"seasonal change", which might include words like "hibernate" and
"estivate", or things like "deciduous trees"; there are some animals
which change color or fur-thickness, etc depending on the season. Is
there such a word, and if so, what is it? If there isn't, suggest one
from the classical sources (Greek/Latin).