A wealth of peculiar knowledge aren't we all. Now I'll be able to 
navigate among the locals in the mythical west. Which I may in fact 
be doing next month--Carlos and I will be spending his school break 
tooling around Britain, the whither to be determined.

OK, so the issue of the pasty (which I'm in fact aware of, it hit the 
papers during one of my British visits) has I think to do with its 
mass-market form--I can get a "cornish" pasty at any roadside stop, 
and it might be made in China, for all the world cares. The 
distinction, I think, is that cheese is in theory artisanal, and 
also, for the becs fins among us, dependent for its taste on the 
minutiae of grass and water--the terroir. Let's imagine for a moment 
a world in which the local Frenchman couldn't prepare boeuf 
bourguingon (sp?) or escargots (same word) but had to have the 
finished product flown from Burgundy. Never happen, not even an 
issue, because they're not mass market. I guess. Or do we have to 
relabel, in the manner of tripes a la mode de Caen, tripes in the 
style of Caen, so that we'd be eating Boeuf a la mode de Bourgogne?

Not surprisingly, it's lunchtime. Fluffy birds baked in a pasty, 
methinks, yum yum.

Mark

At 12:34 PM 3/10/2006, you wrote:
>There is no such place as the West Country. It was invented by GWR
>
>[But did you know, they do say tes true, that West Country cheddar 
>is now a protected EC label but Cornish pasty isn't
>
>Anyway, my beauty, a tourist is an emmet; a grockle is what you find 
>at the bottom of your beer glass. Grockle for tourist is Devonian
>
>But both I believe are English
>
>Moryon is the Cornish
>
>L
>
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Joanna Boulter <[log in to unmask]>
>   To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>   Date: Friday, March 10, 2006 4:39 PM
>   Subject: Re: help--translation query
>
>
>   Splendid pic of grackle, Mark -- how big a bird is it? I'd got the word
>   muddled with grockle, which is the west-country word for a tourist as I'm
>   sure Lawrence will confirm.
>
>   That Latin name sounds as though they're saying 'Who the hell, who the
>   heck'.
>
>   I would support Patrick in plumping for 'fluff feathers' or 'fluffed-up'.
>
>   joanna
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
>   To: <[log in to unmask]>
>   Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 2:56 PM
>   Subject: Re: help--translation query
>
>
>   > Australia must hold the record for noisy birds.
>   >
>   > I'm more a bird noticer than a bird watcher. Grackles (
>   >
>   > Quiscalus quiscula--isn't google grand?) gather in hundreds and 
> sound like
>   > their name. They also shit a lot on unaware walkers. Rather 
> like starlings
>   > for annoyance value. Black with dark purple heads.  A good photo at
>   > http://spurr.pls.uni.edu/birds/photos/common_grackle_a.jpg, and lo! it's
>   > puffed up. Otherwise sleek as a crow.
>   >
>   > As to birds and poets, this from my childhood, in the mock-hillbilly
>   > genre:
>   >
>   > "Oh a bird laid some turd on the mountain I hear."
>   > "That was no bird that was no turd that was me-e."
>   >
>   > What's "having a lend"?
>   >
>   > Mark
>   >
>   >
>   >
>   > At 09:37 AM 3/10/2006, you wrote:
>   >>Hi Mark,
>   >>
>   >>First of all, what's a grackle? I assume you're not having a lend.
>   >>
>   >>But I would be interested in the correct name for the term as 
> well. There
>   >>does seem to be a thing about poets and birds.
>   >>
>   >>I'm a lazy bird watcher myself and rarely know the correct word for
>   >>ornithological things. But I notice them all the same. Tonight, 
> there was
>   >>a real racket across the street as I was coming home, ooh, about 7ish.
>   >>Most likely parrots of some kind. I couldn't see them but they were,
>   >>obviously, apparent.
>   >>
>   >>Cheers,
>   >>Jill
>   >>
>   >>
>   >>On Saturday, March 11, 2006, at 01:06  AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
>   >>
>   >>>OK, I need some feedback from birdwatchers. In the winter 
> birds puff out
>   >>>their feathers fro warmth. Is there/are there a term/terms for 
> this? From
>   >>>the scientific to the colloquial.
>   >>>
>   >>>I realize this question is likely to inspire some general 
> levity, not to
>   >>>say tom-foolery (origin?), which I'd appreciate as much as the next
>   >>>guy/gal, but I really could use the help on this one.
>   >>>
>   >>>A tribeof grackles has taken up residence in the park outside my
>   >>>window--maybe 25 males. Quiet so far--probably waiting for a critical
>   >>>mass to build up. Oh lucky me.
>   >>>
>   >>>Mark
>   >>
>   >>_______________________________________________________
>   >>Jill Jones
>   >>
>   >>Latest books:
>   >>Broken/Open. Available from Salt Publishing
>   >>http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/1844710416.htm
>   >>
>   >>Where the Sea Burns. Wagtail Series. Picaro Press
>   >>PO Box 853, Warners Bay, NSW, 2282. [log in to unmask]
>   >>
>   >>Struggle and radiance: ten commentaries (Wild Honey Press)
>   >>http://www.wildhoneypress.com
>   >>
>   >>web site: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
>   >>blog1:  Ruby Street http://rubystreet.blogspot.com/
>   >>blog2:  Latitudes  http://itudes.blogspot.com/