{"id":51540,"date":"2021-09-20T19:51:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T23:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=51540"},"modified":"2021-09-20T19:51:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T23:51:54","slug":"i-have-harvested-a-lovable-new-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=51540","title":{"rendered":"I have harvested a lovable new word"},"content":{"rendered":"

…from Jonathan Swift.<\/a><\/p>\n

I’d never read Gulliver’s Travels<\/em> until recently, when I was sent a nice old copy (1940, and let me brag I translated the date from Roman numerals, so maybe it’s 1840, but I don’t think so).<\/p>\n

I’m reading it slowly, primarily because I’m not finding it as engaging as I imagined I would. Until I got to Chapter V: The Capture of the Fleet, in which Gulliver, working on behalf of his teeny captors in Lilliput, offers to wade out into the sea to engage with an enemy armada.<\/p>\n

Before thus wading, though, he wisely consults experienced Lilliputian seamen “upon the depths of the channel, which they had often plumbed…” Good idea; you don’t want to wade into a body of water without some idea of whether you might drown before you reach the enemy armada.<\/p>\n

Which is when Gulliver learns how deep the channel is at high tide, which is when I grabbed at the Lilliputian word for depth measurement: “glumgluffs.”<\/p>\n

Seventy glumgluffs are about six feet. Ergo, one glumgluff is slightly under 10 inches.<\/p>\n

That’s the word. GLUMGLUFF. Adorable, no?<\/p>\n

Maybe one glumgluff will prove as inspiring of riotous laughter as did and does Floaty McFloatface.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…from Jonathan Swift. I’d never read Gulliver’s Travels until recently, when I was sent a nice old copy (1940, and let me brag I translated the date from Roman numerals, so maybe it’s 1840, but I don’t think so). I’m … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1175],"tags":[4368,7645,7642,4372,7643,7644],"class_list":["post-51540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-floaty-mcfloatface","tag-glumgluff","tag-gullivers-travels","tag-isle-of-wight","tag-jonathan-swift","tag-lilliput"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t