Words: idiopathic, bellwether and scruffle

Three new words for me that I thought I'd share (because I like 'em so much):

Idiopathic: means, "Of unknown cause." A friend at the dog park used that to describe my capricious (another fun word) nature. I asked her if that was an insult, and she said no, but that it described my motivations perfectly. Of course, at first she pronounced it "Idiopathetic", but then corrected herself...

Bellwether: means essentially, "the leader." And I had always thought it was spelled, "bellweather" (which is why you don't see me in spelling bees). You know how they always refer to "bellwether companies" (or stocks)? Those are the companies to watch because how they fare, so fare other companies in that same business. The term comes from Middle English and refers to the ram that they tied a bell to so that the shepherds could hear the flock coming well before they could actually be seen (I guess this was before they invented border collies). I learned that from a smarmy stock trader on CNBC this morning-- go fig.

Scruffle, scruffling : I made this up-- you know how dogs play/wrastle by trying to grab their playmate's scruff? This.

Also, I finally uploaded a "video" (it's just of the sound) of a strange bird I heard high in a eucalyptus tree last November (I'm in the Los Angeles area). Anyone know what it is?

Words: idiopathic, bellwether and scruffle

Three new words for me that I thought I'd share (because I like 'em so much):

Idiopathic: means, "Of unknown cause." A friend at the dog park used that to describe my capricious (another fun word) nature. I asked her if that was an insult, and she said no, but that it described my motivations perfectly. Of course, at first she pronounced it "Idiopathetic", but then corrected herself...

Bellwether: means essentially, "the leader." And I had always thought it was spelled, "bellweather" (which is why you don't see me in spelling bees). You know how they always refer to "bellwether companies" (or stocks)? Those are the companies to watch because how they fare, so fare other companies in that same business. The term comes from Middle English and refers to the ram that they tied a bell to so that the shepherds could hear the flock coming well before they could actually be seen (I guess this was before they invented border collies). I learned that from a smarmy stock trader on CNBC this morning-- go fig.

Scruffle, scruffling : I made this up-- you know how dogs play/wrastle by trying to grab their playmate's scruff? This.

Also, I finally uploaded a "video" (it's just of the sound) of a strange bird I heard high in a eucalyptus tree last November (I'm in the Los Angeles area). Anyone know what it is?

Words: idiopathic, bellwether and scruffle

Three new words for me that I thought I'd share (because I like 'em so much):

Idiopathic: means, "Of unknown cause." A friend at the dog park used that to describe my capricious (another fun word) nature. I asked her if that was an insult, and she said no, but that it described my motivations perfectly. Of course, at first she pronounced it "Idiopathetic", but then corrected herself...

Bellwether: means essentially, "the leader." And I had always thought it was spelled, "bellweather" (which is why you don't see me in spelling bees). You know how they always refer to "bellwether companies" (or stocks)? Those are the companies to watch because how they fare, so fare other companies in that same business. The term comes from Middle English and refers to the ram that they tied a bell to so that the shepherds could hear the flock coming well before they could actually be seen (I guess this was before they invented border collies). I learned that from a smarmy stock trader on CNBC this morning-- go fig.

Scruffle, scruffling : I made this up-- you know how dogs play/wrastle by trying to grab their playmate's scruff? This.

Also, I finally uploaded a "video" (it's just of the sound) of a strange bird I heard high in a eucalyptus tree last November (I'm in the Los Angeles area). Anyone know what it is?