Fifty-some years ago when we lived on a lake in Odessa, Florida, we frequented a small country store called Fox's Corner. It was run by a grumpy feller and his bad-tempered little feist dog. One day we were outside the store with our elderly beagle cross, and the feist took exception to her presence. He came boiling out of the store to launch an attack.
His owner came running after him, yelling, "Get back in here. What do you mean, comin' out all stiff-legged and agitatin'?"
Pure poetry. We still use that phrase.
Another memorable usage is 'Flehmensing.' Moving to the farm and acquiring cattle, we became aware of the characteristic behavior of a bull around cows--he rolls back his upper lip and sniffs at the cow's lady parts to determine if she's in heat. We eventually discovered the technical term -- "Flehmens response" and shared it with friends. Not long after, we heard one of those friends describing an unattached fellow at a party-- "You ought to have seen old _____, he was flehmensing round all the women."
7 comments:
Is that the two of you in the photo?
The flehman response is common in mammals, not always in a sexual context. Cats do that when deciding whether they will consent to eating a new food.
Feist? or Feisty? Different sorts of word choices.
I don’t know what to say.
What wonderful toys -- and wonderful tools! -- words are, to be sure.
That's us, long ago and far away.
The dog was a feisty feist
I've always been in love with words.
Post a Comment