Warts and All
Nigel had a vet appointment this morning, during which he had his nails trimmed, his blood sampled for T4 levels, a bald spot on his tail examined (pronounced a probable mosquito bite, gone bald from his licking, but regrowing hair now and not a problem), a weird knobby growth under his collar checked (a harmless skin tag; looks kind of like an albino tick but with no legs and no exoskeleton), and what I thought was a mole on his cheek scrutinized. For the last one, the vet took one glance at it and immediately said, “Oh, that’s a wart. That’s nothing to worry about.”
Well. I’m not quite sure how to take that. I mean, I’m immensely grateful that it wasn’t skin cancer — it’s on the side of his face that’s exposed to the sun when he sits in the window, after all — or some other unpleasantly malignant growth. Compared to that, a wart is nothing. Yay for warts!
On the other hand, my dog has a wart on his actual face. A wart: not the swankiest of skin growths, though I suppose most skin growths are no better. I think it’s just the inelegance of the word that irks me; it’s harsh and unpleasing, and kind of brutish-sounding. It’s not much better in other languages: “die Warze” in German, “vårta” in Swedish, and “wrat” in Dutch; it’s a bit better in French (”verrue”), but still . . . it lacks that certain something. Hmm. We shall have to come up with a better word.
(International wart words confirmed by and/or obtained from, depending on my level of facility with the specific language, the following sources: Beolingus for German, Lexin for Swedish, and good old Babelfish for Dutch and French.)
Anyway, it’s (for me, at least) a busy weekend, and shall continue to be so. The monster chair arrives tomorrow, with its accompanying ottoman and a little occasional table. I think I’ve cleared enough space by the giant bookshelves to put the chair there, to create a little library; failing that, I’ve now got enough free space in the main room for the new furniture. (And if anyone out there needs an oval Queen Anne-style coffeetable or a rectangular folding table about four feet long, let me know; they’re to be donated to a furniture bank if no one else needs them.)
This afternoon saw my parents being safely shipped off to Germany, where they’re going to a week-long conference in Jena. I’m currently suffering from nontraveler’s remorse, but I really do need to save some money this year and, for me, that means not going to Europe at all, despite the fact that I must burn off just over two weeks of vacation time before the end of the year, or lose it entirely. Waaah. (I’m sort of vaguely planning a trip next April, which would be right after we ship the 2008 book’s lasers to the printer; a sort of mini-ramble that would theoretically hit Stockholm, Ghent, Brughes, and Nürnberg, and possibly any other city that takes my fancy between now and then. I haven’t yet bought tickets or even seriously priced them, though, so those plans may evaporate.)
Glad to read that Nigel’s skin problems were not serious. If you’re collecting European names for wart, don’t forget the British “verruca”!
August 19th, 2007 | #
Good point. At least “verruca” sounds better than “wart” — though I always think of the minor Terry Pratchett characters who were named “Verruca” because their parents though it sounded pretty. (I suppose it’s marginally better than being named “Bestiality Carter.”*)
*And I shudder to think of what I’ve just done to my search string hits by typing that.
August 20th, 2007 | #
I always think of Verruca Salt of Willie Wonka fame; an appropriately named character if there ever was one! I imagine there were at least a few children named after her!
August 20th, 2007 | #