Spot the Frippet: scat.

The Word Den has already examined the word scat when it's a verb, but how about scat as a noun: that is, a thing, rather than an action?

A scat is something worth spotting, I can tell you, because it can be a very beautiful fish:


photo of Scatophagus argus by Fokko Toelstede, Wikipedia-User „Nyks“

though admittedly you're only likely to spot one of those if you're underwater in the Indian or Pacific Oceans, or looking at an aquarium, where they are useful for sucking up the gunk that ends up on the bottom of the tank.

The other type of scat is, I'm afraid, an animal dropping.

Now, you may ask why anyone would want to try and spot one of those?

Well, it's better than treading in it, isn't it?

Spot the Frippet: scat. Both words were made up in the 1900s. The fish name is short for the scientific name Scatophagus, which I'm afraid means dung eater, from the Greek skōr, dung, and the Greek phagein, to consume. 

The dung word comes from the same source.