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The ordinary-sized words are for everyone, but the big ones are especially for children.



Tuesday 14 July 2020

Thing Not To Do Today: wobble.

Jelly on a plate,
Jelly on a plate
Wibble wobble, wibble wobble,
Jelly on a plate.

To which we can now add a new verse:

Geladas in the grass
Geladas in the grass,
Wobble wobble wobble wobble
Geladas in the grass.

A gelada:


photo by Hulivili

is a beast very like a baboon, but reckoned to be a different genus. They stay on the ground, mostly, and eat grass.

And the wobbling?

They are quite stately creatures, so no wobbling there, but the their noisy communication system is known as wobbling:




For those visitors to The Word Den who are not geladas, to wobble is probably not so good. It implies weakness, indecisiveness, and unreliability; if only Hamlet's ghost had said to his son Quit wobbling! then one feels the play would have been both shorter and happier.

But then if he had then perhaps the younger Hamlet would have thrown a wobbly (had a tantrum) which isn't a great look, either.

So be steadfast, but not obstinate.

It's not easy, but, hey, it's better than having a wobble.

Thing Not To Do Today: wobble. This word used to be wabble, and comes from the Low German wabblein.






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