NTMP 109: Sir Sweeps-a-Lot
Baby got vac
New-To-Me Phrases, May 12, 2024
Friend-shaped * Fluddle * Backwards magical contagion * Solar grazing * Dustbin Bieber * Tactical assault possums
The Phrases, With Context
Every May, you’re going to get an eyeful of how great the weather is where I live. Sunny days, low humidity, the bugs aren’t too obnoxious, temps in the mid-60s to mid-70s. Flowers are blooming and trees are leafed out. Bliss. In other news, our local Pride group snagged the best meteorologist ever, Tom Skilling, as the grand marshal for their parade this year. My goal is to get a selfie with him.
But you came here for phrases, not a weather or weatherman report. This week we have ungulate anatomy, temporary ponds, more punny nicknames for inanimate objects, symbiotic farming, and more.
Let’s get to it!
1. Friend-shaped
Here’s the post where I found this killer phrase:
Bison do look friend-shaped! I love them so much. But I would never try to hug one without their consent.
For a few years now, the social media accounts for the National Park Service and other federal agencies have been run by people with a great sense of humor and a solid sense of what works on social. It’s been a joy to behold.
While researching this phrase, I learned that one person runs the NPS accounts, a ranger-turned-social-media-specialist named Matt Turner. SFGATE wrote a profile about him in 2023, with some great examples of his posts, like this one:
Accounts like this make being on social a fun experience, which is no small thing these days.
2. Fluddle
Not to be confused with a floodle (reportedly a dog breed mix between a labrador retriever and a poodle1), this portmanteau of “flood” and “puddle” describes a larger-than-usual puddle that hangs around for longer than the average puddle.
Also, it’s fun to say.
My friend Kelly at Well Sourced from Kelly Jensen noticed people pulling off of a local highway to take photos near a giant puddle and decided to research what that was all about. That’s how she discovered via eBird that the Union Road Fluddle is a birding spot.
In use since at least 1995 and possibly an Illinois-specific term, here’s a great explainer of a fluddle from This Week in Birding, a Substack that definitely appeals to my interests:
It’s generally used to describe a flooded area, often in reference to a flooded farm field. It’s too big to be a puddle, but not a pond or lake, and generally more shallow. They are generally temporary, but some exist year-round. If it’s permanent and a lot of vegetation starts to grow up, it might cross over into being called a marsh or wetland. The term tends to be used in areas where their presence is unintended, unwanted, or indirectly results from other activities or management. In natural areas like woodlands, they are more likely to be naturally occurring vernal ponds/pools or wetlands.
A great bonus new-to-me phrase: Vernal pond!
Kelly just redesigned and renamed her Substack—check it out! Nobody has covered the book censorship beat with the depth and passion that Kelly has. She’s brilliant and her work deserves much broader recognition, and also financial support because anti-censorship work benefits us all. 📚 Read her guide to fighting book bans over at Book Riot.
3. Backwards magical contagion
On the recommendation of my friend and essay writing mentor Amy Paturel (take her classes! They are SO GOOD!), I read the book Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks. I got a lot out of it in terms of how to craft a great story and if that interests you, I suggest you check it out.
In a recent edition of Dicks’ newsletter, he shared that when he worked as a McDonald’s manager in high school, he relieved stress by throwing boxes of frozen french fries against the wall—a strategy he didn’t find all that effective.
He cited a recent study in Japan where researchers found that when people wrote down what angered them and either tore or crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it away, it effectively dissipated their anger:
Researchers believe the results may be related to the phenomenon of “backward magical contagion” — the belief that actions taken on an object associated with a person can affect the individuals themselves.
That is just freaking wild. I’m going to find a shitload of paper and try this and see if it works. Apparently actually discarding the paper is a key part of the process; keeping it lets the anger simmer. Here’s a longer write-up about this study from The Guardian.
4. Solar grazing
In what seems like a win-win situation, solar grazing pairs sheep ranchers with solar farmers. Ovine crews arrive to gobble up plants that grow tall enough to block energy-harvesting panels from accessing that sweet, sweet sunlight. Via Morning Brew. I would totally watch this buddy road trip comedy.
5. Dustbin Bieber
The longer I write NTMP, the more punny names for animals and inanimate objects I discover. In this case, we have a robot vacuum named Dustbin Bieber and its housemate, Clean Latifah. I’m into it. I want to read your punny names for your vacuum cleaners:
6. Tactical assault possums
A molecular biologist posted about armadillos on Bluesky, a decent Twitter alternative where they actually act like content moderation is a worthwhile endeavor.
The poster, c0nc0rdance, aptly described armadillos as tactical assault possums and shared that all armadillos are born as identical quadruplets, which is mind-blowing. They described it thusly (emphasis mine):
It's a quirk of their reproductive system called polyembryony, an adaptation to an incredibly small implantation site in the 'dillo uterus.
Another bonus new-to-me phrase: polyembryony!
Related: Follow me on BlueSky if you’re into that sort of thing.
Bonus Bits
1. A list of favorite words
Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen recently asked her Instagram followers about their favorite words and she generated this awesome list. Bolded words came up often. None of my faves were listed: aubergine, cerulean, confluence, fart, and yak. What are some of your favorite words?
2. Trademark Design Codes
I dig a good data visualization (who doesn’t? 🤓) and Beautiful Public Data by Jon Keegan, an investigative data reporter (🚨cool job alert!🚨) delivers them in a delightfully niche way.
This recent post about U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) trademark design codes was fascinating. As every graphic designer well knows, trying to describe design elements can be tricky, and the USPTO staff needed ways to describe visual elements of trademarks, including wordmarks (Coca Cola) and logos (Starbucks). So they created a database for design elements dating back to the 1870s, including animals, plants, and shapes that’s now digitized.
Keegan took this info a step further and created a design code randomizer you can play around with.
That’s it for this week! Remember to keep making it weird and stay furiously curious.
Your friend-shaped phraseologist,
Toni 🤓📝🦄
Only two SEO-bait posts mention this so its provenance is highly suspect
Tactical. Assault. POSSUMS. I am SCREAMING!!!!
Thanks so very much for sharing about “fluddles,” which is such an awesome word (and they are good for birds).