About the project:

About the project:

Many, if not most, of these words would commonly be considered jargon. Let’s instead call them vernacular. They are words that are rather peculiar to the fields of study which gave them purpose. Most of us would not come across words that describe the movement of rock unless we were specialists in the field of geomorphology. With these words though we are suddenly offered the means to think and speak about a new subject. In naming the process of geological movement we might be inspired to contemplate the vastly different time scale at which such as thing can even be observed. In this way, an entirely new world opens up and through the language of that world we become explorers.

It is my hope in this exploration to engender deeper thought about the processes that animate the world around us and thereby to inspire greater consideration and care for global life, even the lives of the rocks.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Aa: A beginning

Aa "Aa [is] A Hawaiian term for lava flows typified by a rough, jagged, spinose, clinkery surface. Cf: pahoehoe; block lava. Pron: ah-ah. Obs.syn: aphrolith.” (Bates and Jackson, 1980)

This I the very first entry in the very first glossary I’ve adopted in order to begin this anecdotal glossary of vernacular natural history terms. It is in fact the Second Edition of the Glossary of Geology edited by Robert L. Bates and Julia A. Jackson. This treasure laden tome was published by the American Geological Institute in 1980, in Falls Church, Virginia if you care to know. The name Falls Church seems worth digging into itself, but that's for another time and another place.
Geology (excuse the pun) is a goldmine of wonderful words in which to describe the world, or at least the geologic parts of it (which are manifold). These are my initial thoughts in response to Aa. 

     Me:  Clinkery... ?
     Glossary:  Yes, clinkery.
     Me: … 
     Glossary:  Oh, excuse my presumptuousness! Clinkery, of course, is the adjective form of clinker which itself refers to; ‘A rough, jagged pyroclastic or autobrecciated fragment, such as aa that resembles the clinker or slag of a furnace’.
     Me:  Naturally.
     Glossary:   Quite.
     Me:   So what your saying is I’ll need a dictionary or a geological glossary of my own to proceed any farther?
     Glossary:  Yes.

At the time of discovering this word I was using a library copy of the book, I have this book on my shelf now. And so it begins.

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