Said the penguin, "I'm loath to inflame,
but I feel I must ask, just the same-
could you please call me 'nun-bird',
or else make up a new word,
for 'arsefoot' isn't my fav'rite name!"
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Author Notes
Today's word: arsefoot (n.) a penguin.
Apparently, in addition to being ANZAC Day, April 25 is also World Penguin Day.
According to Oliver Goldsmith (1774), sailors used to call penguins "arse-feet", for reasons which I suppose are obvious, but perhaps a little unkind.
My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.
Thanks for reading.
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