Wheatear

A small perching bird with a white rump. I don’t think you’d typically see one in your garden but I have been to places, such as heaths in Norfolk, where they were everywhere. When they fly away the white backside is very conspicuous and it’s generally thought that the bird was originally called a “white arse” for that reason. A mixture of “folk etymology” - an intuitively appealing idea about a word origin but not based on recorded evidence - and dislike of coarse words (mealy-mouthedness in fact!) morphed this into wheatears and then people felt this was a plural, so we got wheatear.

Compare with pea; there were originally no peas but there was pease pudding (“Pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold, pease pudding in the pot, nine days old”); this sounds like a plural, so back-formation led to pea.

Isohyet

A line on a climate map, connecting points of equal rainfall.

Three men walked into a bar. The fourth was in a wheelchair.

"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" is a choral work by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I was listening to it tonight, and thought how the words have always moved me, particularly the last four lines.

Let us now praise famous men,
And our Fathers that begat us.
Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms,
Men renowned for their power.

Leaders of the people
By their counsels and by their knowledge.
Such as found out musical tunes,
And recited verses in writing:

All these were honoured in their generations,
And were the glory of their times.

And some there be which have no memorial;
Who are perished, as though they had never been.
Their bodies are buried in peace;
But their name liveth for ever more.

The text is adapted from Ecclesiasticus 44. Ecclesiasticus is in a section of the Bible (the

Apocrypha = Greek From hidden) between the Old and New Testaments, and not always considered as worthy of inclusion, although the balance of opinion across time and place has felt it deserves its place, and I concur.

Finally I though you might like to see the passage (as it was originally) in the first printing of the King James Bible. The image is from https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ecclesiasticus-Chapter-44_Original-1611-KJV/

My dog Arnold has always been a fast learner. So I thought I’d see if he could be trained to swim underwater. Sadly, it seems you can’t teach Arnold dog newt tricks.

Grandad worked in a circus as a lion tamer but it was such a small outfit they could only support a single lion. Other lion tamers laughed at him, and he became a one-lion joke.

Thanks for the heads up garden birds

I get it

Spring’s coming.

Another puzzle I found on John Baez's blog. It seems to have been discovered and published only as recently as 2011. Baez's post gives a reference.

Two touching semi-circles, aligned as shown, are inscribed in a circle.

You might think you need more information, such as the relative sizes of the semi-circles perhaps. But in fact it doesn't make any difference.

I will post my solution on 6 March.

Langeleik

An old Norwegian stringed musical instrument, resembling the zither according to the OED. 

‘Zither’ is interesting itself; it derives from Ancient Greek ‘Kithera’, the origin also of ‘guitar’ and the older ‘cittern’, and possibly also related to ‘sitar’. The latter is from Persian but may be from a common root.

Can you identify a hard white crumbly Welsh cheese? Think carefully.

I've just learned of Jules de Corte, who was a blind Dutch singer and song writer. He wrote hundreds of songs and had an extensive performance and recording career. His songs seems to touch on the business of being human. I listened to his most famous song Ik zou wel eens willen weten, 'I would like to know'. Here is the first verse (courtesy of https://www.dutchsongs.overtuin.net/translation-50-corte-ik-zou.html)

I would like to know the reason
Why mountains rise high in the sky
Perhaps to collect all the snow fall
Or to shield the deep valley from cold air
Or perhaps they are pillars that carry the heaven's arch
That's the reason mountains are high

Ik zou weleens willen weten
Waarom zijn de bergen zo hoog
Misschien om de sneeuw te vergaren
Of het dal voor de kou te bewaren
Of misschien als een veilige stut voor de hemelboog
Daarom zijn de bergen zo hoog

I told the doctor, I keep thinking I’m a rubber band.

But he just said I should “Snap out of it”.