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Fanciful Beasts

A list of 59 words by reesetee.

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  • trivet commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    high horse, white elephant?

    June 22, 2007

  • slumry commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Clothes horse?

    Powder monkey?

    Scapegoat?

    computer mouse?

    bugbear?

    grease monkey?

    June 28, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Great suggestions, slumry--thanks! For more mental exercise, I've been trying to keep it to words whose origin doesn't actually derive from a real animal. For example, I believe scapegoat originally referred to a real goat at one time, at least in the Bible.

    June 29, 2007

  • slumry commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    You are right about scapegoat; I had the same "rule" in mind when I was thinking about this, but . . .oh, there should be a word for it. . .speaking without thinking. . .ya know...whatchamacallit. *temporarily inarticulate* And by the way, could someone explain this use of asterisks to me?

    June 29, 2007

  • slumry commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    I was also thinking about simply "pig," in the sense of a device that is used to clean the inside of pipes. Funny story: A friend was doing word processing for engineers. The context was sewerage (not sewage). The writing was illegible. . .something about sending a pig through the pipes. Thinking that the report would be read before being sent, my friend improvised something about "tying their little feet together." Oops. It was sent to the client without review.

    June 29, 2007

  • slumry commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Sawhorse!

    And don't forget your very own crossbuck.

    June 29, 2007

  • oroboros commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    packrat,sawbuck

    June 30, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Don't know about anyone else, but I use asterisks for emphasis when I feel too lazy to italicize. :-)

    Thanks for the suggestions! I'm enjoying this one.

    June 30, 2007

  • slumry commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    This list is a lot of fun. I'll bet that there are a lot of itms we have not thought of yet.

    And now I have *permission* to use asterisks as I please.

    Thanks.

    June 30, 2007

  • reesetee commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Thanks, s! Have fun with the *asterisks.* :-)

    July 2, 2007

  • bilby commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    How about pig iron? Australia had a prime minister who was known as Pig Iron Bob.

    January 5, 2008

  • reesetee commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    It'd have to be an iron pig to make the list. :-)

    January 5, 2008

  • sionnach commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    stalking horse?

    eager beaver?

    welsh rabbit?

    round robin?

    holy mackerel?

    black swan?

    bumblepuppy?

    culture vulture?

    stool pigeon?

    January 5, 2008

  • sionnach commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    booze hound?

    corn dog?

    horn dog?

    January 5, 2008

  • sionnach commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    spanish fly? spruce goose?

    less seriously: butterfly tenafly phyllis schlafly tenant infant

    January 5, 2008

  • reesetee commented on the list fanciful-beasts

    Good grief, sionnach--you're on a tear! Thanks for all the suggestions. I see many of them are from your own "beastie" list. :-) I'm leaving out the ones that I know derive from actual animals, though (see my comment below).

    January 7, 2008