Sunday Rest: palp. Word Not To Use Today.

A palp is a finger-like appendage which sprouts from near the mouth parts of a crustacean, arachnid, insect, mollusc, or worm.


bee mite, illustration by Pavel Klimov.


another of Pavel Klimov's delightful illustrations of a bee mite.

Here is another palp:


anatomy of a female spider. Illustration by Peter Coxhead.

A palp is designed for touching (can't you feel the soft, inescapable, clammy touch of the thing in the sound of the word? Because I can). 

Ugh!

 Palp can describe the fleshy part of a finger tip, too, but whichever way you cut it the word gives me the creeps. This post was palp-typed...

...excuse me. I think I'm just going to have an attack of the screaming abdabs...

...aaarrrgghhh!

Word Not To Use Today: palp. Palpus is Latin for feeler, and palpare means to stroke or touch softly. Errrgghhhh...