Spot the Frippet: talus.

A rather austere and elegant word, is talus - and the plural form is simply marvellous.

So, what is a talus, and more importantly, where can you spot one?

A talus is an ankle bone, that wonderful thing that means we can can all run for the train and don't have to waddle about like frantic penguins.

Mind you, the penguin-thing might be funnier.

If the talus in question is not an anklebone then it'll be something to do with slopes. It can either be the sloping wall of a castle or fortification:


That talus is at Krak des Chevaliers.

or it can be a scree slope, that is, a side of a mountain covered in small stones that do everything they can to make you fall over.

What's so great about the plural of talus?

Well, there are two, depending upon which talus you're talking about. If it's the ankle bone the plural is tali; but if it's the slope then it's taluses.

Hmm...

on reflection, I think I should possibly get out more...

Spot the Frippet: talus. The ankle bone word is Latin for ankle, and the slope word comes from the Latin talūtium, slope, but is probably of Iberian origin.