Come talk about fun and quirky words in the English Language. Posting is open to all members.
cirque
Spring is (kinda) here and that means weekend backpacking for me. I recently went to a gorgeous lake in the mountains in a cirque.
A cirque is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. It is often shaped by fluvial erosion. Often a small lake, called a tarn, will form. Already this paragraph has three cool geological words to learn.
Cirque is a ultimately a latin word, but there is interestingly a synonym, corrie, which has exactly the same meaning, but comes from Scottish.
Do you know any cool geological terms?





Archipelago!
This is where I admit I know nothing about geology. I don't even really know what an archipelago is--something something islands?
I admit, I do not understand how cirques form. But I do know they tend to be pretty and I enjoy hiking to them.
It really does look incredibly beautiful.
It really does look incredibly beautiful.
How about horst and graben?
Graben I happened to know just from German. But horst is new to me. I like their duality raised land vs depressed land.
I have a friend who has a PHD in Geology. His facebook page is half political and half a bunch of geological talk that is way over my head, but I've learned cool terms.
Makes me wonder about the origin of Cirque du Soleil.
Cirque and circus share the same latin root circus which means ring or circle.
Originally circuses were a circle. Hence the same root.
Also why Piccadilly Circus is called that.
Today I learned that Piccadilly Circus isn't actually a circus. I've been doing it wrong...
LOL. The way they announce it in London actually makes it sound like a different word from circus with acrobats.
Maybe not necessarily "cool" per se, but one of my favorite geological terms is crevasse.
That may just be because it makes me giggle, tbh.
I also like caldera.
Geology is all sorts of dirty. Cleavage is another geology term. Or what about the spreading ridge? Dirtiest science out there.
Haha totally. Didn't think about it when I made the post, but I'm setting myself up here.
Literally, when you consider all that dirt! :D
Exactly.
How did @BQuirky miss the opportunity here.
How have you not recognized that I am a master of restraint?
Are you sure you didn't mean restraints?
<3
Dirty. I would lecture you that this is family friendly community, except it's not.
We're all one friendly family, it counts! ^_~
Caldera makes me think of atoll which is another one of my favorites.
Even that sends my mind briefly into dirty places, considering the Bikini Atoll!