A.W.A.D. - Words to Describe Sculptures Formed By Nature

with Anu Garg
Last month, with my wife and daughter, I visited the famous sand dunes on the Oregon Coast, a few hours south of Seattle. The Oregon Coast on the Pacific Ocean has miles of pristine beaches, parts of which are dotted with sand dunes hundreds of feet high.

How are they formed? Over the years, boulders tumbling in the water turn into fine sand, and wind sculpts this sand into ever-changing dunes. Standing in that vast expanse of pure sand felt like being in a desert. Handling those grains of sand, I wondered if I were touching people who lived thousands of years ago.After rolling on a sand dune one brings home much sand, unintentionally. It's in the hair, ears, pockets, and elsewhere. And I brought something else -- today's word, which I discovered while learning about wind as a sculptor.

In this week's AWAD we'll see words to describe sculptures formed by nature.

yardang
PRONUNCIATION: (YAHR-dahng)
MEANING: noun: An elongated ridge formed by wind erosion, often resembling the keel of an upside down ship.

ETYMOLOGY: From Turkic yar (steep bank)

USAGE: "There are about 50 yardangs on Edwards [Air Force Base], with the largest about 15 feet high and 150 feet long. Base biologist Mark Hagan described them as looking like upside-down ship hulls."Jim Skeen; Unearthly Qualities Fossil Sand Dunes Provide Clues to Mars: Los Angeles Daily News; Dec 26, 2000

pingo
PRONUNCIATION: (PING-go)
MEANING: noun: A mound or hill of soil-covered ice in permafrost, pushed up by the pressure of water seeping in

ETYMOLOGY: From Inuit pinguq/pingu (small hill)

USAGE: "Out on the Arctic coastal plain below the northern foot of the Brooks, the land is dotted with pingoes a foot or two tall." Craig Medred; River Dance on the Hulahula; Anchorage Daily News (Alaska); Jul 31, 2005.

scree
PRONUNCIATION: (skree)
MEANING: noun: Rock debris at the base or the side of a mountain

ETYMOLOGY: From Old Norse skritha (landslide)

USAGE: "The trail is well-defined, although there were a few spots where we had to scrabble up rocks and slide down scree."Charlie Anderson; New Zealand's A Knock-out; Calgary Herald (Canada); Jun 6, 2009.

inselberg
PRONUNCIATION: (IN-suhl-burg, -zuhl-)
MEANING: noun: An isolated mountain or hill rising abruptly from its surrounding.In the US it's known as a monadnock. (Tr'Aislínge's note: there is a mountain in New Hampshire named Mount Monadnock. Pretty neat!)

ETYMOLOGY: From German Insel (island) + Berg (mountain), ultimately from the Indo-European root bhergh- (high) which is also the source of iceberg, belfry, borough, burg, burglar, bourgeois, fortify, and force.

USAGE: "Perhaps the most terrifying storm I have ever been through was on Malawi's Nyika Plateau, a huge inselberg that rises out of almost nowhere."Craig Dodds; Forecasts Say Batten Down the Hatches; Cape Times (Cape Town, South Africa); May 15, 2009.

karst
PRONUNCIATION: (karst)
MEANING: noun: An area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinks, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From German, after the Karst, a limestone plateau near Trieste, Slovenia

USAGE: "Traveling east into the wooded hills and finally to the elevated, rolling plain above the bluffs, the tour group enters the realm of karst, the ultimate geologic destination of this tour and primary scientific focus of the day's adventure."Joseph G. Maty; Magical Geological Tour is a Trip; St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri); May 12, 1997.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interesting Aftermath a From Season Five of "MasterChef"

Image
Do I agree with this? You will have to read it first and decide for yourself. I had long since made up my mind before finding this article. MasterChef Season 5 Fixed: Courtney Lapresi Won Finale After Getting Preferential Treatment – Former Stripper Favoritism BY  STORMY ELIZABETH  ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 "They say if you can’t take the heat, you should get out of the kitchen, but what if you like it hot? If you’ve been watching  MasterChef this season 5 , you may have noticed that one contestant in particular seems to  be “winning” challenges  when her dishes don’t seem to be quite up to it.  Courtney Lapresi  has been billed as an “aerial dancer” on the show. So what exactly is that, you ask? It’s a fancy word for stripper. You may term what she does as burlesque, but nekked is nekked and she takes off her  clothes  when she dances, so you have to call them as you see them. Plus is it really...
Read more

The Longairc-Green Family

This is a family that was on Nanny 911 , the precursor to Supernanny , which airs on Wednesday nights. While Supernanny is a better production and leaves out some of the dopey American-isms of stupidity (such as the opening scene with a much older nanny head whose television showing the family and their issues turns around into a painting on the wall), this show has its value. These families are clueless or don't bother to try and definitely need help. This family is an exception in that the mother couldn't care less what the monsters do and will do anything to mollify them. The father is more consistent and definitely takes a much more disciplinary stance, but the mother undermines it at every step of the way. The two boys are so unbelievably rude, I'd've killed them where they stood. The little girl only wanted a moment of attention and was not doing anything negative, and the mother was awful to her. The nanny, Nanny Stella, spent the first day observing. When she s...
Read more

Shocking!

Image
I always open my day at work by starting up my various programs that I'll bounce back and forth between throughout the insanity that is my normal workday. And they are always in the same order: Internet Outlook Microsoft Excel Microsoft Word The timekeeping program, GenPro, is always running. This is not me being unbelievably anal or just a little OCD, this is logic. I know excatly where everything is. It's just good organisational skills. When I open Outlook it is almost entirely for the e-mail. Yes, I do know how to use all of Outlook (well, 80% of it, any way, but since I use my belovèd Franklin Covey Time Management system (the physical book, not the electronic solution), I only use Outlook for e-mail. What is so shocking, you may ask? Be patient, I'm getting to that. I open the Internet and the default page is Wikipedia, in English. I happen to love that site and skim over whatever interesting things it may have, such as: Today's Featured Article The word thou was...
Read more