Personal Blogs

Why is Y pronounced ‘Why’?

In my garden I’ve got quite a few climbing plants.

Cultivated: Roses, Runner Beans, Sweet Potato, Nicotiana

Wild: Bindweed, Ivy, White Bryony, Blackberry

I’ve always marvelled at climbers and there’s a famous Flanders and Swann song containing the lines

The fragrant honeysuckle spirals clockwise to the sun, 
And many other creepers do the same. 
But some climb anti-clockwise, the bindweed does, for one, 
Or Convolvulus, to give her proper name.…

So today I was thinking about climbers and a bit of research came up with this wonderful summary. See what you think.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/apr/13/shopping.gardens2

Most people are just ordinary crastinators but I’m a pro.

Mind you, it’s taken 10,000 hours of putting things off to get where I am.

If I say the best thing to do about Eeyore is ignore him, then I haven’t ignored him, have I?

My friend Michèle videoed these cygnets playing. I didn't know they did this but as you see they are very lively and quite chaming. This is a YouTube video and if you click on it you can make it full screen in the usual way.

What do you call mouse with a poisonous bite?

Venom mouse.

This beautiful flower is a sweet potato. I did not realise that the plant is a vine, related to bindweed and morning glories. Like morning glories each flower lasts only a day.

Why is vermi a lot of money?

Cos it’s half vermillion.

Following my earlier post about CHECKBOOK, I wrote a Python program to find dictionary words with the property they have symmetry about a horizontal mirror line; if you invert them, they remains the same. I used the UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary, by Ross Beresford (240732 words) as my word source.

Here is the full list of then 352 results. As you might expect some of the words are a wee bit obscure.

['B', 'BE', 'BECK', 'BECKED', 'BED', 'BEDDED', 'BEDE', 'BEDECK', 'BEDECKED', 'BEDIDE', 'BEE', 'BEEB', 'BEECH', 'BI', 'BIB', 'BIBBED', 'BIBCOCK', 'BICE', 'BICKIE', 'BID', 'BIDE', 'BIDED', 'BIKE', 'BIKED', 'BIKIE', 'BIO', 'BIOCIDE', 'BO', 'BOB', 'BOBBED', 'BOBBIE', 'BOCCE', 'BOCHE', 'BOCK', 'BOCKED', 'BOD', 'BODE', 'BODED', 'BODICE', 'BODIED', 'BOH', 'BOK', 'BOKE', 'BOKED', 'BOKO', 'BOO', 'BOOB', 'BOOBED', 'BOOBOO', 'BOOBOOK', 'BOODIE', 'BOODIED', 'BOOED', 'BOOH', 'BOOHED', 'BOOHOO', 'BOOHOOED', 'BOOK', 'BOOKED', 'BOOKIE', 'BOX', 'BOXED', 'C', 'CEDE', 'CEDED', 'CEDI', 'CEE', 'CH', 'CHE', 'CHECK', 'CHECKBOOK', 'CHECKED', 'CHEEK', 'CHEEKED', 'CHI', 'CHIC', 'CHICH', 'CHICHI', 'CHICK', 'CHICO', 'CHID', 'CHIDE', 'CHIDED', 'CHIK', 'CHOC', 'CHOCHO', 'CHOCK', 'CHOCKED', 'CHOCKO', 'CHOCO', 'CHOICE', 'CHOKE', 'CHOKED', 'CHOKO', 'CHOOK', 'CHOOKIE', 'CID', 'COB', 'COBB', 'COBBED', 'COCCI', 'COCCID', 'COCCO', 'COCCOID', 'COCK', 'COCKED', 'COCO', 'COD', 'CODDED', 'CODE', 'CODEBOOK', 'CODED', 'CODEX', 'COED', 'COHO', 'COHOE', 'COKE', 'COKED', 'COO', 'COOED', 'COOEE', 'COOEED', 'COOK', 'COOKED', 'COOKIE', 'COX', 'COXED', 'D', 'DEB', 'DEBBIE', 'DECCIE', 'DECIDE', 'DECIDED', 'DECK', 'DECKED', 'DECKO', 'DECKOED', 'DECO', 'DECODE', 'DECODED', 'DECOKE', 'DECOKED', 'DEE', 'DEED', 'DEEDED', 'DEEK', 'DEICIDE', 'DEID', 'DEKKO', 'DEKKOED', 'DEO', 'DHOBI', 'DI', 'DIB', 'DIBBED', 'DICE', 'DICED', 'DICH', 'DICK', 'DICKIE', 'DID', 'DIDICOI', 'DIDO', 'DIE', 'DIEB', 'DIED', 'DIKE', 'DIKED', 'DIODE', 'DIOXIDE', 'DIXI', 'DIXIE', 'DO', 'DOB', 'DOBBED', 'DOBBIE', 'DOBCHICK', 'DOC', 'DOCK', 'DOCKED', 'DOD', 'DODDED', 'DODO', 'DOE', 'DOEK', 'DOH', 'DOO', 'DOOB', 'DOOK', 'DOOKED', 'E', 'EBB', 'EBBED', 'ECCE', 'ECCO', 'ECHE', 'ECHO', 'ECHOED', 'ECHOIC', 'ECO', 'ECOCIDE', 'ECOD', 'ED', 'EDDIC', 'EDDIE', 'EDDIED', 'EDDO', 'EDH', 'EE', 'EEK', 'EH', 'EHED', 'EKE', 'EKED', 'EO', 'EX', 'EXCEED', 'EXCEEDED', 'EXCIDE', 'EXCIDED', 'EXE', 'EXODE', 'EXODIC', 'H', 'HE', 'HEBE', 'HECH', 'HECK', 'HEED', 'HEEDED', 'HEID', 'HEIDE', 'HEX', 'HEXED', 'HI', 'HIC', 'HICK', 'HICKOK', 'HID', 'HIDE', 'HIDED', 'HIE', 'HIED', 'HIKE', 'HIKED', 'HO', 'HOB', 'HOBO', 'HOBOED', 'HOC', 'HOCK', 'HOCKED', 'HOD', 'HOE', 'HOED', 'HOH', 'HOI', 'HOICK', 'HOICKED', 'HOIK', 'HOIKED', 'HOKE', 'HOKED', 'HOKI', 'HOO', 'HOOCH', 'HOOD', 'HOODED', 'HOODIE', 'HOODOO', 'HOODOOED', 'HOOK', 'HOOKE', 'HOOKED', 'HOX', 'I', 'IBEX', 'IBO', 'ICE', 'ICEBOX', 'ICED', 'ICH', 'ID', 'IDE', 'IDO', 'IKE', 'IO', 'IODIC', 'IODIDE', 'K', 'KEBBIE', 'KEBBOCK', 'KEBOB', 'KECK', 'KECKED', 'KED', 'KEECH', 'KEEK', 'KEEKED', 'KEX', 'KHOIKHOI', 'KIBE', 'KICK', 'KICKED', 'KID', 'KIDD', 'KIDDED', 'KIDDIE', 'KIDDIED', 'KIDDO', 'KIKE', 'KIKOI', 'KO', 'KOB', 'KOBE', 'KOI', 'KOODOO', 'KOOK', 'KOOKED', 'KOOKIE', 'O', 'OB', 'OBECHE', 'OBI', 'OBIED', 'OBO', 'OBOE', 'OCH', 'OCHE', 'OD', 'ODD', 'ODE', 'ODIC', 'OE', 'OH', 'OHIO', 'OHO', 'OI', 'OIK', 'OK', 'OKE', 'OKED', 'OO', 'OOH', 'OOHED', 'O', 'OX', 'OXHIDE', 'OXIDE', 'X', 'XEBEC', 'XI']

Here are the foxgloves we have planted in dappled shade alongside the new fence.

In the stereotypical Western a moody stranger comes into the saloon and says “Gimme a shot of Red Eye”. The barman, who wears a white apron, slides a glass along the bar, followed by the bottle.

Here are some other Old Western slang names (allegedly at any rate) for whisky.

Tarantula juice

Strychnine

Mountain howitzer

Coffin varnish

Chain lightening

Tanglefoot

Grandad was in a gardening contest, but he was really up against it. In the end he just had to throw in the trowel.