'Now take a sheep,' the Sergeant said. 'What is a sheep only millions of little bits of sheepness whirling around and doing intricate convolutions inside the sheep? What else is it but that?'
'That would be bound to make the beast dizzy,' I observed, 'especially if the whirling was going on inside the head as well.'
'Nothing to do with the independence of America or suchlike?'
'No.'
'A mechanical engine for winding clocks?'
'No.'
'A tumour, or the lather in a cow's mouth, or those elastic articles that ladies wear?'
'Not them by a long chalk.'
'Not an eastern musical instrument played by Arabs?'
He clapped his hands.
'Not that but very near it,' he smiled, 'something next door to it. You are a cordial intelligible man. A bulbul is a Persian nightingale. What do you think of that now?'
Pythagoras, the reputed inventor of music, heard beautiful sounds coming unexpectedly out of a blacksmith's shop. Weighing the anvils the smiths were striking, he discovered the harmonic ratios governing the perfect ('Pythagorean') consonances, as well as the whole step.
Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music
From Wikipedia: 'The nashi pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, is sometimes called the Asian pear. It has also been called the Japanese pear, Korean pear or Taiwan Pear, as well as sand pear, apple pear, bapple, papple, and bae, from the Korean 배 or li (梨) in Chinese.'
From Wikipedia: 'The miracle fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that, when eaten, cause bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet.'
a wolf tone, or simply 'wolf', is produced when a played note matches the natural resonating frequency of the body of a musical instrument...an overtone that amplifies and expands the frequencies of the original note, frequently accompanied by an oscillating beating...which may be likened to the howling of the animal.
Not to be confused with Wolfe Tone, a leader in the Irish independence movement of the late 18th century.
Comments by wolfnotes
wolfnotes commented on the word STRONG
Seeing it in all caps made me think of Strong Bad for some reason.
November 28, 2009
wolfnotes commented on the word accordion
Treaty or agreement made under musical duress (Semantricks)
November 28, 2009
wolfnotes commented on the word sheepness
December 11, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word sub-rosa
see sub rosa
December 11, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word res ipsa
see res ipsa loquitur
December 11, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word bulbul
December 6, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word soliterraneous
makes me think of a lonely planet
November 19, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word pythagorean
November 16, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word nashi pear
From Wikipedia: 'The nashi pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, is sometimes called the Asian pear. It has also been called the Japanese pear, Korean pear or Taiwan Pear, as well as sand pear, apple pear, bapple, papple, and bae, from the Korean 배 or li (梨) in Chinese.'
November 14, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word miracle fruit
From Wikipedia: 'The miracle fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that, when eaten, cause bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet.'
November 14, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word daguerrotype
via Toothpaste for dinner
November 8, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the list swim-at-two-birds
That's correct, sionnach. I've finally gotten around to reading it and it's great so far. I'm jotting down interesting/unfamiliar words as I go.
Here it is at Google Books
November 7, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word sun-trellised
November 7, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word trick-o'-the-loop
November 7, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word wolf
From Wikipedia:
Not to be confused with Wolfe Tone, a leader in the Irish independence movement of the late 18th century.
November 5, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word inanition
November 3, 2008
wolfnotes commented on the word syzygy
Wasn't this an NES game? Oh, no, that was Xexyz.
October 29, 2008