Tuesday 14 July 2015

Pronking, Bunting And Fragging

SM Stirling, Conquistador (New York, 2004).

"...tattered, ratty wickiups..." (p. 430)

"A mob of impala trotted by; occasionally one would pronk..." (p. 516)

"Cheetahs killed by bunting their prey off its feet and then choking it..." (p. 517)

"'Masthamo's dick,' he swore obscurely.'" (p. 532)

This is obscure. I am not finding "Masthamo" anywhere.

"...I'd have considered fragging the crazy son of a bitch..." (p. 544)

I had heard of fragging, although my laptop does not recognize the word, but it was interesting to google and read the Wiki article. A British WWII veteran told me, "One officer was such a bloody nuisance we had to get rid of him ourselves."

These are just six words in Stirling's text that I have tried to google although I have not stopped for every unfamiliar term. However, I imagine that I am not alone in having a computer or dictionary to hand when reading the novel. The context of a word usually gives us some idea of its meaning but it is often informative to read a full account.

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