WAGS 10.03.2021: News You May Have Missed.

 Of late, some complaints have been voiced (sotto voce, of course) that recent blogs on this WAGS site have not had very much, if anything, to do with walking. Variety is to be welcomed but not to the extent that the prime focus is lost entirely. In an endeavour, therefore, to return to our roots, let me quote verbatim from a 9th March article in the Business News section of The Daily Telegraph:-

                                      "Sole Mates: Boot steps in for Foot at Shoe Zone.

Terry Boot will step into the position of finance chief at Shoe Zone after his predecessor Peter Foot walked away from the role."

Let´s hope that Boot lasts. Shoe Zone is an on-line purveyor of foot wear, mostly at the cheapo end of the market.  One doubts that our Blogger-in-Chief, even in his enthusiasm for a good deal and for the very latest in walking gear, will have bought any boots from them.

Rather less inspiring was a news item about a 21 year-old American girl who claimed a record (Guinness Book style?) for being the youngest person to have visited every country in the world. As there are about 195 sovereign countries in the world, one has to doubt that she can have learned very much about any of the places she visited. My preference has always been to stay for a lengthy period and let the essence of a place seep into one. 

Much of the so-called headline news recently has been the garbage coming out of the U S of A. In the context of those so-called revelations, it is educational to remember that, in ancient Greek drama, the word for acting was hypokrisia and that for an actor hypokrites. Plus ça change, plus c´est la même chose.

Having blogged that little bit a couple of days ago, I then got a call from a very frustrated Paul who said he could not do a blog this week, (due to a malfunctioning computer), I was then asked to stand in and produce the usual inconsequential natter and patter, flying solo as it were. What to do?

One of Paul´s suggestions was that I should repeat a recent report by Terry which appeared in the WhatsApp chats on his stroll in a park complete with pictures of orchids and, mirabile dictu, Terry´s Latin titles for said orchids. This is what Terry wrote:-:-

“Out for our walk, what a lovely morning, good enough for the orchids to flower. Take care.”

And these are his pictures and his captions:-

                                                “Ophrys tenthredinifera”

                                            

                                                               "Orchis itálica”

So Terry does do the Latin after all, in spite of his protests. Subsequently , while musing on the matter of languages, I recalled that I had recently been sent an email by a friend (who shall remain nameless) which ended with the words:-

                                                        “Hastenna e chouf!”

I realised soon enough that the language was Arabic of some type but didn´t know what it meant and so had to ask. The answer was :- “Let´s wait and see!”

Then I recognised that “chouf” was the same Arabic word as that adopted by British Army in Egypt in the phrase “Let´s have a shufti” i.e “let´s have a look”.

In India, the same process of verbal adoption took place but in that case from Hindi as in “Let´s have a dekko.” Both having a dekko and having a shufti have become everyday English slang for having a quick look-see so as to sort something (usually mechanical) out.

Following that same vein of thought, I then wondered if the phrase “Let´s have a gander” which has the same slang meaning as “shufti” and “dekko” might also have something to do with India and the Gandhi name but, no; that particular slang expression comes from the visual image of a male goose waving its long neck around as it peers here and there, which reminds one of the old joke about the man who was wandering around the poultry market when a stall-holder asked him if he would like to buy some goose, and he replied “No thanks, I´ll just take a gander.” And as you all know, the Portuguese for a gander (the bird, I mean) is “ganso” , which must surely be derived from the Latin word for goose which is “anser.” As the schoolboy Latin joke used to go “Boy, translate the word “anser.” “Sir, the answer is a goose."

Looking further into this orchid business, I found that Ophrys Tenthredinifera is also known as the sawfly orchid because of its resemblance to the sawfly, a wasp-like insect.

And, as for Orchis Italica, (Those of a Sensitive Nature may want to look away at this point), it is commonly known as The Naked Man orchid, apparently because the lobed lip of each flower mimics the general shape of a naked man - could have fooled me. The Italica part of the name arises because in Italy, so Wikipedia assures us, it is believed that consumption of the plant is conducive to virility. (Oh, come on !Do Italian men really go around chomping on orchids? Or do their women folk slip them surreptitiously into their salads? And what happens if a woman eats the salad? The mind boggles.)

ToaSN can look back now.

Since we were dealing with both geese and orchids, I began to wonder if possibly there was such a thing as a Goose Orchid. Goose Barnacles, yes, but Goose Orchid, no, not yet. The nearest thing is the Flying Duck Orchid (Caleana Major).

Let us hope that Paul can get his computer to behave by next week.

And as a postscript and finish to the News You May Have Missed, here is a picture of a goose flying upside down which The Daily Telegraph has kindly published on 19th March, entitled Take a Gander.