November 21st, 2005

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Words
3 Comments »

Word of the Day: Haze

It’s been incredibly foggy in Vancouver for the past couple of days, but that’s not what I’m talking about. As a (ahem) faculty member at the Banff Centre for Blogs ‘n’ Dogs, I just received my 48-page Banff Centre Handbook. Under “Animal Awareness”, it advises:

Elk are dangerous, especially during the spring calving season and the fall rutting season. If you see elk on campus during daylight hours, please contact Security via the Switchboard by dialling ‘0′ and Security will haze the elk off campus.

There’s no way I’m calling Security! Those poor elk are going to end up duct-taped to a flagpole with shaved genitals and a beer bong forced down their throat!

Ah, wrong definition of ‘haze’. I looked high and low for what they meant, as I’d never heard this usage before. Finally, on page 1201 of my edition of the The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Thumb Index Edition, Volume 1, A-M, I found the following:

haze. v. [Origin uncertain: cf. Fr. haser tease, anger, insult] 6. v.t. Drive (cattle, etc.) while on horseback.

Well that’s a relief.

Comments: 3 Responses so far

Luna Zoloq
November 21st, 2005
4:56 pm

It’s been foggy like that for the past few days in Seattle, too.

[Reply]

FrenchPedant
November 24th, 2005
2:19 pm

Small comment about the Blog’n'Dogs logo that shows up on the home page of your site. The text reads “Qui ont laissé sortir les chiens”, but should be “Qui a laissé …”. I read your site almost every day, and that’s starting to be a daily annoyance, because I’m always tempted to correct it. Any chance you could change it? The world’s French-speaking pedants would owe you their eternal gratitude!

[Reply]

Darren
November 24th, 2005
2:35 pm

I checked my French with a French-Canadian guy. See the ensuing conversation, and another complaint about the plural here.

[Reply]

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