Camels vs. dromedaries?

[Mark Mandel]

In the northern hemisphere the moon looks (sort of) like a D while
growing from new to full, and like a C while shrinking from full to
new. C is the first letter of "crescens", Latin 'growing' and source
of "crescent", while D is the initial of "decrescens" 'shrinking'.
Therefore the moon is a liar.

Well, it works if you're a northern-hemisphere classicist.

m a m

On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 10:17 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> At 4/3/2008 04:02 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>  >At 2:49 PM -0400 4/3/08, Mark Mandel wrote:
>  >>FWIW, I could never remember which of the Bactrian and dromedary was
>  >>which, till I looked at the capital B and capital D sideways.
>  >>
>  >>Mark Mandel
>  >Aha.  So camels always tell the truth, unlike the moon, which always lies.
>
>  Well, I'm going through an eclipse, and in the dark on this apothegm.
>
>  Joel
>
>
>
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--
Mark Mandel

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org