A Dandelion by any other Name
As I was driving home today,
I noticed the lawns and grassy medians
were filled with bright yellow dandelions.
I know some people regard them as weeds,
but to me they are a beautiful little flower available for the picking.
Dandelions have been around for hundreds of years,
and in that time, they have accumulated
some pretty interesting nicknames.*
For example:
Blowball, cankerwort, and cochet, which means young chick.
Also lion's teeth, swine snout, and wild endive.
To some, it's exalted as priest's crown.
To others, the more vulgar pisse au lit,
which to put it in polite terms means urine on the bed.
Then there's also Pu Gong Ying in Chinese.
I don't know the literal translation, but given the latter French example,
perhaps it's better not to know.
One term that I thought sounded very romantic,
but which in reality is less so is salade de taupe.
And while salade de does mean salad of,
taupe in French has two meanings:
tawny gray-tan color
and vole.
Those darn voles again.
Even the dandelions.
<>
No comments:
Post a Comment