Live and learn

 

Live and learn

This is the first in an occasional series demonstrating new vocabulary, sourced through my daily playing of Polygon. When I have exhausted my personal dictionary, all too often woefully quickly, I turn to the solution.

Recently, I discovered ‘joual,’ which may be familiar to the Canadians among us, as it is a patois, a popular form of Canadian or Quebec French. Joual derives from the rural pronunciation of ‘cheval’ (horse) There is more information here.

In the same polygon, I came across ‘rucola,’ which some may already know as rocket or arugula. It is pungent and bursting with vitamin C and iron. I always assumed that common or salad rocket and wild rocket were the same animal, just grown in different ways. I discovered that they are quite distinct. 

Salad rocket (Eruca sativa) is an annual plant with a milder flavour. The flowers are white.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) is a perennial with a more intense piquancy. The leaves are narrower than common rocket and deeply serrated. The flowers are yellow.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Finally, I found turaco, which ornithologists will know is a bird found among the trees of sub-Saharan Africa. Their diet consists mainly of fruit, and, though they are weak flyers, they are adept at running and leaping, with unique semi-zygodactyl feet. This means that the fourth toe can move forwards or backwards, according to need, to enable them to maintain a firm grip on branches.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Apart from their beautiful colouring and intriguing calls, they are one of the few birds which have truly green feathers. The feathers contain a green pigment called turacoverdin.

Whether I retain any of this newly-acquired knowledge remains to be seen!