Additions to the lexicon

Jane McGary via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Wed, 16 Sep 2020 15:41:58 PDT
Thanks to Val Myrick for introducing us to a word new to me (and not in 
my desk dictionary): lerps, resinous casings formed by insects on plant 
parts. It's easily Googled and seems to be a problem with eucalyptus; of 
course, if you live in California, any problem harming a eucalyptus is 
generally to be welcomed. I've seen them but never knew they were "a thing."

The second new word I learned today is something that we on the Pacific 
coast are all yearning for at this moment: "petrichor," the fragrance of 
sun-baked earth when it is first struck by rain. I had known this 
fragrance all my life but never knew it had a name. Google knows it, 
though Merriam-Webster doesn't. It appeared in a poem quoted in a review 
article on the literary descendants of the Mahabharata.

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA

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