FEATHERS FLYING

Bird species with the most websites dedicated to them:

1 parrot (130)
2 pigeon (52)
3 owl (41)
4 eagle (40)
5 swan (38)
6 penguin (29)
7 chicken (25)
8 geese (24)
9= budgerigar (18)
9= vulture (18)
11 crane (17)
12 bluebird (16)
13= heron (15)
13= hawk (15)
13= crow (15)
13= canary (15)
17 woodpecker (14)
18= pheasant (12)
18= cassowary (12)
20 duck (11)

Source: yahoo.com

 
BOTH SIDES NOW

52 names that are (or have previously been) used for both boys and girls:

Alex * Ali * Angel * Aubrey * Bernie * Beverley * Billy/Billie * Cameron * Charlie * Courtney * Dale * Eddi(e) * Esmé * Francis/Francis * Gerry * Hayden * Hilary * Hyacinth * Jo * Jocelyn * Jordan * Jules * Kelly * Kelsey * Kim * Laurie/Lori * Lee * Leslie/Lesley * Lindsay * Lou * Mandy * Marion * Mel * Meredith * Morgan * Nicky/Nicki * Noel * Pat * Perry * Ray/Rae * Robin/Robyn * Sam * Sandy * Sasha * Sharon * Shirley * Sid * Taylor * Tracy * Valentine * Vivian * Winifred

 
SORE THUMBS

A list of unlikely words (collated from the little quizzes elsewhere on the site, and updated) which have turned up in the lyrics of UK Number 1 hit songs:

enchilada (Mambo Italiano by Rosemary Clooney)
fuzzy (All Shook Up by Elvis Presley)
plumb (Claudette by The Everley Brothers)
cement (Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin)
lulu (Rock-a-Hula Baby by Elvis Presley)
snitch (Little Children by Billy J Kramer)
farmyard (Little Red Rooster by The Rolling Stones)
socks (Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles)
merry-go-round (Puppet on a String by Sandie Shaw)
seasick (Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum)
eskimo (The Mighty Quinn by Manfred Mann / Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads / The Chicken Song by Spitting Image)
tavern (Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin)
paraffin (Lily the Pink by The Scaffold)
embassy (Where Do You Go To, My Lovely? by Peter Sarstedt)
acorns (The Ballad of John and Yoko by The Beatles)
Clyde (The Isrealites by Desmond Dekker)
playmate (Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris)
mules (Wand'rin Star by Lee Marvin)
Pagliacci (Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson)
smog (Woodstock by Matthews’ Southern Comfort)
Chaplin (Grandad by Clive Dunn)
yoghurt (Ernie by Benny Hill)
corkscrew (Telegram Sam by T.Rex)
linen (Vincent by Don McLean / Bring Your Daughter... by Iron Maiden)
bugle (Fernando by Abba)
apron (No Charge by JJ Barrie)
khaki (Up Town Top Ranking by Althia and Donna)
Ancoats (Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs by Brian and Michael)
Arapaho (Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads / The Chicken Song by Spitting Image)
bullhorn (I Don't Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats / Rubber Bullets by 10CC)
manure (Too Much Too Young by The Specials)
textbooks (Going Underground by The Jam)
gorgon (House of Fun by Madness)
towel (Geno by Dexy’s Midnight Runners)
Glasgow (Super Trouper by Abba)
combie (Down Under by Men At Work)
Renoir (The Reflex by Duran Duran)
Doris (Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham!)
biscuits (Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
starboard (Star Trekkin by The Firm)
capitan (La Bamba by Los Lobos)
Cebu (Orinoco Flow by Enya)
gallow (Belfast Child by Simple Minds)
copywritten* (The Power by Snap)
pompatus** (The Joker by The Steve Miller Band)
sierra (Deeply Dippy by Right Said Fred)
squirrel (Oh Carolina by Shaggy)
mothballs (Do The Bartman by The Simpsons)
fireplace (Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis)
psychosomatic (Breathe by The Prodigy)
sangria (Perfect Day by Various Artists)
bosom (Brimful of Asha by Cornershop)
huff (C’est La Vie by B*Witched)
Christianity (Survivor by Destiny’s Child)
chinchilla (Crazy In Love by Beyonce)

* a word which does not really exist
** the story behind this odd word is complex but, in a nutshell, Miller misheard and borrowed the word from an old song by a band named The Medallions. The actual word sung was ‘puppetutes’, a word coined by the song’s writer and meaning ‘good-looking girls’.

 
HELLO

Apologies to regular VitQ readers for the slow appearance of new stuff recently. I'll be adding new things over this weekend. I've been away a couple of times, and been working hard on other things, not least the book version of this site (due out in the Autumn) which has taken a lot of work. Expect the best of the site, plus expanded and reworked ideas and quite a lot of new material.

Oh, and thanks to Neil Gaiman for recommending this site again - always brings new visitors into this miscellany of inconsequence, always welcome.

Roddy

 
MILESTONES

Some celebrated miles:

Stephen King’s prison novel The Green Mile was first published in six monthly parts. It was later made into a highly-rated film starring Tom Hanks. Set on death row in a 1930s jail, the title refers to the green linoleum on the way to the electric chair. The walk to the chair was also known as the last mile and this was the name of a 1932 movie (remade in the late 1950s) also about life on death row. This phrase is often used in telecommunications and technology for a problematic late phase in the development of a product or system. A song called ‘The Last Mile’ was written by Jimmy Page and Andrew Loog Oldham for singer Nico in her pre-Velvet Underground days.

In Rusholme, Manchester, hungry locals on The Curry Mile can choose from over 50 low-cost restaurants in what is actually a half-mile stretch. Some of the curry houses have been open since the 1970s.

The Golden Mile is the name given to the seafront stretch in Blackpool, one of England’s most popular traditional holiday resorts, where you will find the amusement arcades, chip shops, bingo stalls and waxworks and where you can see the famous annual show of coloured lights. In Hong Kong, the name is given to the business and nightlife centre of Kowloon, while in Melbourne, Australia, the name is used for the city’s heritage trail. There are also Golden Miles in Belfast, Detroit, Montreal, Bournemouth and on the Costa del Sol in Spain. The Golden Mile of Tipperary is an annual competition to find the most beautiful and environmentally laudable stretch of rural road in that part of Ireland. The Golden Mile was also a song by John Waite’s late 70s rock band The Babys and the title of the ‘difficult second album’ by late 90s indie-glam group My Life Story. Lastly, the term is also used for a celebrated annual athletics race held at the Bislett stadium in Oslo.

The Museum Mile stretches up 5th Avenue in Manhattan and contains such attractions as the Metropolitan, the Guggenheim and the Jewish Museum.

‘The City’, London’s centre of finance and investment is sometimes called The Square Mile.

The Miracle Mile was a shopping area of LA developed in the 1920s. The name is also used for various stretches of river where the fishing is good. The phrase is sometimes used for the first sub-four minute mile run by Roger Bannister in Oxford in 1954.

Running down through the centre of the old part of Edinburgh, The Royal Mile is one of Scotland’s most famous streets. Actually consisting of a few connected streets (and also slightly over a mile), it lies between the Castle and the royal palace of Holyrood. Along the way, you can see St Giles Cathedral, the Heart of Midlothian (marked in the cobbles by the cathedral and spat on for luck), John Knox’s House and the Old Tollbooth. Prague also has a Royal Mile which was originally the route taken by the king-to-be on his way to be crowned.

The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky is a racetrack famous as one of the main venues for harness racing. The Milwaukee Mile is a major venue for motor racing.

 
HEY GOOD LOOKIN’

A baker's dozen of beauty standards:

1 Familiarity Looks - those which set off that pleasant sensation derived from perusing an old friend or colleague of whom, however unattractive or unconventional, one has grown fond.

2 Super Looks - bland, perfectly symmetrical, mathematically provable good looks which are instantly forgettable. See: any clothes model.

3 Beholder looks - having one of those features (snub nose, eagle nose, jutting chin) or looks (china doll, fop, tomboy, goth) which do it for 5% of us but not for the rest.

4 Teller Looks - Mild but unthreatening good looks, a few degrees above ‘plain’, of the sort required by law in order for you to work in a bank.

5 Ooh! Oh! Looks - Remarkable first impressions which fade fast. ‘Ooh, he’s good looking! Oh, actually, now I look closer, eurgh!’

6 Blind Looks - those which seem only to appeal to a loved one. The way a mother in denial feels about a child with especially interesting physiognomy.

7 Character Looks - otherwise known as ‘joli(e)-laid(e)’ ie pretty / ugly. Unusual looks which are somehow at once both attractive and unattractive.

8 Fleeting Looks - those which are down purely to age and sadly won’t last.

9 Fox Looks - having ‘fox looks’ means to be basically conventionally unattractive, but still to cause sensations of lust in the majority of onlookers.

10 Kind Looks - those belonging to someone who, though short of sexual charisma, you instantly want to befriend and settle down with.

11 Transplant Looks - applied to people who are physically unattractive, but have other things going for them such as fame or money. Think inbred heiresses, fat comedians and gangster rappers.

12 Glow-in-the-Dark Looks - some people's faces just change in the darkness during intimacy, making them radiantly beautiful (even if they aren't to begin with), as if lit from within. There's no telling who will have this capacity and who won't. It seems to be like tongue-rolling or finger-clicking - you can do it or you just can't.

13Side-on Looks - that phenomenon by which someone can be very handsome in profile but somewhat frightening face-on. Side-on looks are often encountered on train journeys, when you realise that the apparently dishy character you have been sneaking looks at across the aisle is not all they seem.