It’s just one of the regional terms for woodlouse; others being ‘sow-dug’, ‘slater’ and ‘johnny-grump’. The nature writer reveals the language of the landscape that has been shared with him
A few days after Landmarks was published last spring, the first postcard arrived. It was of Pendle Hill in Lancashire. The blue ink handwriting was slightly spidery. “Dear Robert Macfarlane”, it began, then:
“lighty-dark”: a word to describe the light occurring at the edge of darkness after a cold clear day. Invented by me (aged 11) walking home in the beautiful, under-valued Lancashire landscape, in the evening.
Continue reading...
0 comments:
Post a Comment