Herewith, some evidence that great minds do not all think alike. The challenge last time was to come up with “a collective term for all the biting, stinging, pesky insects that follow us around in warm weather.”
This put Anil Adyanthaya, of Newton Upper Falls, in mind of astronomy: “Because those pests seem to exist in perpetual orbit around the sun that is us, I would suggest calling this solar system of insects orbiters, pronounced ‘ore-biters’ as distinct from the word when it’s used to refer to spacecraft.”
Jane Urban, of Shutesbury, mused on nearly century-old musicals and their celebrated choreographer, Busby Berkeley, to come up with “a buzz-by berkeley, like a dance routine for a chorus line of insects — which is kind of what the behavior is all about, right? As in ‘I was just swarmed by a buzz-by berkeley of mosquitoes.’”
On the third hand, Naomi Angoff Chedd, of Brookline, had a topical take, writing: “Obviously, those swarms of pesky insects are members of the Bitin’ crime family.”
And Josh Simons, of Sharon, suggested “annoyance, as in ‘an annoyance of midges.’” Gosh, Josh, good on you — you’ve coined a new “term of venery”! Published lists of these things — a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese, a wisdom of wombats — date back to the 1400s, when, supposedly, gentlemen who hunted needed to know them in order to converse knowledgeably about their sport. (Venery is derived from the Old French venerie, meaning “hunting.”) Even then, in the 1486 Boke (a.k.a. Book) of Saint Albans, some of the terms were more flights of fancy than utilitarian terminology. There were many for members of certain professions — a doctrine of doctors, a sentence of judges, a poverty of pipers — who, obviously, were not generally hunted by gentlemen.
A few readers unintentionally assembled themselves into a gnat pack, with Daryl Burtnett, of central Vermont, proposing “a gnattering of biting bugs,” and Robert Coyne, of Lexington, coining gnatorture; Jeff Kaufman, of Needham, gnattage; and Rob Moore, of North Falmouth, gnatmosphere.”
Larry C. Kerpelman, of Acton, “There already is a word for the biting, stinging, pesky insects that follow us around in warm weather: It’s no-see-ums. Unfortunately, some wise guy already applied it to the insect Ceratopogonidae. Darn!”
Actually, Larry, Ceratopogonidae aren’t just one insect but a family of about 6,000 species, many of them bloodsuckers, and they can be found pretty much everywhere in the world. Double darn!
Stan Werlin, of Dennis, proposed calling the nuisance in question legswarmers. Rosemary Galena, of West Boylston, wrote: “I suggest bug-muggery or getting bug-mugged. Example: ‘I was getting bug-mugged so I decided to stop working in the garden.’”
Evelyn Carver, of Middleboro, suggested that “hordes of insects be called bugarazzi.” And Brian Pomodoro declared: “There can be only one descriptor — pesterazzi.”
I too have a declaration to make: Pesterazzi earns Brian bragging rights. Nice work, Brian!
Now Norm Quesnel, of Framingham, is seeking “a term for a street that is continually backed up by roadwork. I think every town has them, and it’s a curse to accidentally get caught on one. There are a few of these here in Framingham whose never-ending paving/pipelaying/curbing/etc. work rivals the Big Dig for duration.”
Send your ideas for Norm’s word to me at [email protected] by noon on Friday, July 5, and kindly tell me where you live. Responses may be edited. And please keep in mind that meanings in search of words are always welcome.
Barbara Wallraff is a writer and editor in Cambridge.
