Here at Webb’s Weird Words, we’re always on the hunt for themes in rolling out our regular rosters of oddball vocab.
Last week, having encountered dogsbody in my reading, I was moved to look at words that mean something different than what we might assume. Many, like that one, have little or nothing to do with the animal-name they contain; others, such as boomslang and godwit, do in fact relate to animals — despite initial impressions otherwise.
Let’s look at some of those now (with a few flowers & plants thrown in as well); and then in following weeks, we’ll get to several other non-living examples of what we might call “words in disguise.”
Most of these definitions, by the way, come from dictionary.com — with additional support from Wikipedia and the peerless Online Etymology Dictionary. And for the record, I’ll omit my usual info on pronunciation and “part of speech”; these are all nouns and — except for the third — their pronunciation is perfectly intuitive.
Alewife – A herring-like North American fish. It is apparently named for female tavern-keepers in Merry Olde England, who — like this particular animal — tended to have a large belly.
While we’re here, I can’t help mentioning fishwife, which refers to a coarse, vulgar or sharp-tongued woman. Along the same lines as alewife, it is named for female sellers of fish — who I guess once had a bit of a reputation.
Boomslang – Sounding like some sort of primitive weapon — maybe one for flinging painful projectiles — this is actually a sub-Saharan snake with a very nasty bite. Despite having teeth far back in its jaws, the boomslang can open its mouth almost 180 degrees (so take a moment to picture that!); and its venom produces horrific symptoms that often culminate in death.
Unlike the aptly named “hundred-pace viper” of the Far East (because that’s supposedly how far you can walk before keeling over), the boomslang has poison with a delayed effect; and this in turn can lull victims into thinking they got a so-called “dry bite.”
Ouch.
Cattleya – An American orchid with “showy flowers ranging from purple to white” (dictionary.com). This unusual-looking word is pronounced CAT-lee-uh — though stress can be on the second syllable (cat-LEE-uh, or cat-LAY-uh). Totally unrelated to cows, it is named instead for British botanist William Cattley (1788-1835), who was fond of orchids.
Dogsbody – British slang for a menial worker, or “drudge.” It originates in that nation’s navy, where it came to mean a junior officer (i.e., one who does boring, unwanted tasks) — after initially referring to a bland but common shipboard meal of pudding made from peas. (Yes, like “pease porridge” in the famous “hot/cold” nursery rhyme.) Dogsbody can also be dog robber, with similarly comical synonyms like grunt, lackey and gofer.
Eelpout – This actually does have to do with fish! An eelpout is in fact a ray-finned fish of wide distribution; it can also be a name for the better-known burbot.
Though not actually an eel, it looks like one, being somewhat long and slender. And contrary to the funny-sounding name, it does not sport a grimace or frown; no — a pout is actually also a type of fish. (Its two main species, the horned pout and ocean pout, still conjure up amusing mental imagery.)
Welp, as is so often the case in these columns, we’re out of space — though I haven’t even finished plants & animals in this category of “deceiving words.”
Here are some we’ll cover next week: eyebright, godwit, grassquit, kittiwake, klipspringer, mossbunker and pennyroyal.
Suggestions welcome at robbwhitefan@gmail.com.
