Liebesparr Im Wald

Liebesparr Im Wald

Two words seemed to give readers of “The Nine Planets” trouble.  “Richterish”  is an invention to describe a painting that was derivative of the work of the Gerhard Richter.  There is an example, “Liebesparr Im Wald” (Lovers in the Forest)  1966, of the genuine article above.  He’s a deserveredly celebrated painter, hardly obscure, but perhaps not as well known as I’d thought.

The second word is “lordosis” , a zoological term describing, according to my OED, “A posture assumed by some female animals during mating, in which the back is arched downwards”.  That one had people reaching for their dictionaries.  Or not. I came across it  in a university course I took on brain and behavior back in the late ’70s and, it being such a good one, it stuck with me.  I make no apologies for efficiency and always prefer precision in writing to having the work done with struggling similes.  I rather enjoy going to the dictionary myself.

The copy editor of “Rare Birds” took exception to the word “livyers” on the first go round. When I provided him with the reference from The Dictionary of Newfoundland English, “a permanent settler of coastal Newfoundland” he agreed it was a keeper