Under the headline "Herman Melville Likes Your Beard," a blog calling itself The Towering Irrelevance claims that, in a mere two chapters of White Jacket, Melville, who sported a beard himself, uses all of the following terms to describe beards:
- beards
- the crop
- suburbs of the chin
- homeward-bounders
- fly-brushes
- long, trailing moss hanging from the bough of some aged oak
- love-curls
- Winnebago locks
- carroty bunches
- rebellious bristles
- redundant mops
- yellow bamboos
- long whiskers
- thrice-noble beards
- plantations of hair
- whiskerandoes
- nodding harvests
- viny locks
- the fleece
- fine tassels
- goatees
- imperials
- sacred things
- admiral’s pennant
- manhood
- muzzle-lashings
(Thanks to my friend Lee for bringing this to my attention. I could suggest that this raises questions about whether he has too much time on his hands, but seeing as I’ve taken the time to post the list, I can't very well lambaste him without risking a well-deserved pot-calling-the-kettle-black comeback.)
No comments:
Post a Comment