Reindeer

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sluggo
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Reindeer

Postby sluggo » Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:38 am

reindeer

Pronunciation: rayn-deer • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A deer (rangifer tarandus) with large racks of fuzzy antlers found in and around the Arctic Circle. In Lapland (Finland) the Saami people live by herding and breeding reindeer for their milk, hide, meat and other products.

Notes: Like deer itself, this Good Word does not mark its plural: one reindeer, two reindeer, millions of reindeer, though some dictionaries have caved in and allow reindeers.

Image

In Play: Those of us who live outside the Arctic Circle see very few reindeer other than the cutouts on lawns this time of the year. This reduces the opportunity to put this good word in play very often, but it doesn't preclude its use: "Grandpa and Grandma came in with so many presents I looked out the window to see if reindeer had brought them."

Word History: In the early 19th century, Saint Nicholas was still riding on horseback. That was his traditional means of transportation until 1823 when Clement Moore wrote his famous book A Visit from Saint Nicholas, now more familiar for its first line, ('Twas) The Night Before Christmas.

Today's word was imported from Old Norse hreindýri from hreinn "horn" + dýri "animal". The Swedes today call it a rendjur or just ren, while the Danes say rensdyr and the Germans, Rentier. In Middle English the word deer meant simply "animal", like its German cousin, Tier, today. So, when Shakespeare speaks of, "mice and rats, and such small deer" for Edgar's diet in King Lear, he is not upgrading the menu suggested by the first two words.[/img]
Last edited by sluggo on Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:26 am, edited 4 times in total.
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sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:44 am

A tiny correction: Lapland (Sápmi) extends not only over northern Finland, but also Norway and Sweden and east into Russia.

As long as I've been around these boards I have never been able to figure out how to insert an image :cry: , hence the lame link. Any advice is appreciated in advance and needn't wait for Xmas or birthday...
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:08 am

Speaking of reindeer---
'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus.

This and myriad more parodies indexed here
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:45 pm

A tiny correction: Lapland (Sápmi) extends not only over northern Finland, but also Norway and Sweden and east into Russia.

As long as I've been around these boards I have never been able to figure out how to insert an image :cry: , hence the lame link. Any advice is appreciated in advance and needn't wait for Xmas or birthday...
"It's so simple even a Cavesluggo can do it!"

Just quote this message to see the code to display an image. Note that the image has be somewhere on the internet, not on your PC (unless, of course, you're dumb enough to have your PC on the Internet without a firewall, " ... but none of us will ever go there because we're all far too groovy ..." ). If you've tried to post images from your PC, you were doomed to start.

Image

Et voilà!

... and now, back on topic: Image

Every time I hear the words Lapland or Laps I'm reminded of National Lampoons Radio Dinner album. In four different parts of the album there is someone sounding a bit like Paul McCartney singing, and each time he gets one more line out before he's interrupted:

"Give Ireland back to the Irish, ... "
BANG (gunshot)


"Give Ireland back to the Irish,
Give Lapland back to the Laps, ... "
BANG (gunshot)


"Give Ireland back to the Irish,
Give Lapland back to the Laps,
Give China back to the Chinese, ... "
BANG (gunshot)


"Give Ireland back to the Irish,
Give Lapland back to the Laps,
Give China back to the Chinese,
And Yoko back to the Japs!"
BANG (gunshot)
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:32 pm

Thanks Jeezer, though I've done exactly this before without desired effect. Here I've tried again, and as you see on the latest edit i I just got naked code in the message.

I would appear to be cursèd :(
"It's so simple even a Cavesluggo can do it!"
Can I have my existential meltdown now? Two scoops please! :P

-still not too late for birthday 8)

Ah, NatLamp, I remember the record well. I may even still have it. However my auralgraphic memory tells me there's no gunshot when he gets to finish the 4th line. Check me :wink:
Asperger's: a blessing and a curse

re-edit 12/26: the image appears to appear now though I don't know what I did differently :?
Thanks Larry.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:45 am

... Ah, NatLamp, I remember the record well. I may even still have it. However my auralgraphic memory tells me there's no gunshot when he gets to finish the 4th line. Check me :wink:
Asperger's: a blessing and a curse
You're probably right; I haven't listened to it in a long time, but I did manage to find a copy of the album at a used book sale. It's one of the many I've yet to migrate to the digital domain.
re-edit 12/26: the image appears to appear now though I don't know what I did differently :?
Thanks Larry.
I do some help-desk type of work and have done it in the past, too. I like the simple problems, especially the ones that cure themselves. As the telephone company used to say during a line test, "The trouble left here OK."
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

sluggo
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Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:15 am

I like the simple problems, especially the ones that cure themselves. As the telephone company used to say during a line test, "The trouble left here OK."
That's cute but I hate the ones that cure themselves, especially setting up some bigwig corporate event production system and getting to a point where, well yeah it works now but I don't know why or what I did... or what I'll do when it goes out the next time.

I noticed one of my last images has been intermittent, and even one of the older ones is doing the same thing. At some point I guess I can claim, "well it was there so it ain't me!"
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:34 am


Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:35 am

Delve deeper to find The First IT Help Desk Call back in the Middle Ages.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


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