fallout from a restless mind

one of the most persistent urges in life – it seems to me  – is the drive to compare things to other things. i’m aware that my particular tendency for this is part unconscious personality trait to do with ordering and partly the result of my training in the academy wherein being able to perceive and rhetorically establish connections between things is highly prized.

however, i think it a widespread enough tendency to offer this post to aid people in their discussions as they watch various ugly politicians stand up to have their totals announced this evening. to that end, therefore, i offer you some comparative adjectives related to animals.

we are probably all aware of terms like feline, canine, equine, bovine, simian, lupine, porcine and so on – but here a few that might have skipped your attention:

● formicine: like an ant

● ursine: like a bear

● apiarian: like a bee

● pierine: like a butterfly (float pierine, sting apiarian [sic])

● galline: like a chicken

● cancrine: like a crab

● corvine: like a crow

● pulicine: like a flea

● vulpine: like a fox (uh, vulpine lady, i’m comin’ a getcha’)

● ranine: like a frog

● caprine: like a goat

● pardine: like a leopard

● cervine: like a moose/elk

● murine: like a mouse

● musteline: like a skunk/stoat

● acipenserine: like a sturgeon (touched for the very first time)

● batrachian: like a toad (mr toad? at least start with him and move on)

● vespine: like a wasp

● vermian: like a worm