Dragon:
A dragon is a mythological beast, says the dictionary. I say dragons are real. There are many types of dragons. I won't speak of the different types here except to say they can be differentiated by color (red, green, blue, black, white) and by what they breathe out (fire, acid, lightning bolts, poisonous gas, frost.) Be wary if you meet up with a dragon and do not assume you can intimidate him by playing dead or acting crazy. That would be my advice.
Wyvern:A wyvern only has two legs. Two legs and a barbed tail. Since it has wings, bat-like wings, it really makes more sense that it would not have arms too. It has a barbed tail and a dragon's head. Or a head similar to a dragon's. I used to think that it is a Wyvern that appears on the Welsh flag until I became more attentive one time. No, your standard Welsh flag has a red dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) giving a friendly high-five. High-three, if you want to be more accurate.
Griffin, Griffen, Griffon:
More people than you might expect think these flying beasts are one and the same with just different vowels. It is a mistake to think this. A Griffin is primarily used in crossword puzzles, and the definition is always "fabulous animal." It has a lion's body and an eagle's head and wings.
One of those odd quirks of coincidence - it was only the other day that I discovered the meaning of wyvern. A griffon is a dog, but don't forget gryffindor.
ReplyDeleteIn some countries men put their wives on a pedestal.
ReplyDeleteIn Wales they put her on a flag!
@Sheila - I won't forget. I can't forget. I don't know what it is. I think you may be making gryffindor up. It HAS to be Welsh with all those Y's. Quick... memory test from my old post archives: name an actor named Llewellllyyyyn. (I might have spelled it wrong.) Hint: "M".
ReplyDelete@Adullamite - Thank you for that. And in some countries they eat their neighbors. :)
Gryffindor is from Harry Potter. I don't expect you to know that. I'm not even sure how I know.
ReplyDeleteAs for Llewellyn, don't you mean Q?
I said Q. It just came out as M. Obviously a Blogger malfunction.
ReplyDeleteIt was only a hint that it was a letter. Any would have done. You didn't even guess anyway.
ReplyDeleteX marks the spot?
ReplyDeleteWell I tried to post last night, but I mustn't have hit submit or something. By now everyone has pretty much said what I was going to say.
ReplyDeleteBut we have griffons (I think) on our family coat of arms.
Well, shoo them away and polish it back up. :)
ReplyDeleteSheila, STOP with the letters and tell the actor's name! Stop teasing!
ReplyDeleteYou don't know. You are going to run to Google now. Sheila only knows about nuts and stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteI think a family of squirrels have built a nest in Sheilas letter box. That's why she is preoccupied with nuts lately.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a suspicion who supplied the squirrels, too.
ReplyDeleteDesmond Llewelyn of course. You really need to mind your Ps and Qs.
ReplyDeleteNow you have reminded me about that post I was going to do about the third permissible use of apostrophes. Oh, joy.
ReplyDeleteNot there. I do not want apostrophes in my sentence. I will not have it, or them.
ReplyDeleteThings which are not really words but which you have to find a way to write in a sentence, and are plural, use apostrophes even though not possessive.
ReplyDeleteThere. Saved me a post.
Even though they are not missing anything either. Except the word itself. Bwahahahahahahaha.
So interesting, this damn language of yours.
It's probably an elite American rule anyway, so you can't use it even if you want to.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to use it. I have no need of apostrophes in my sentence. They are not wanted there. They are not acceptable to me.
ReplyDeleteThen you will have to say peas and queues.
ReplyDeleteOr pease and cues.
This conversation seems familiar for some reason.
But for you, Max, I will mind my P's and Q's. [You have no idea how much that hurt me]
ReplyDeleteThat looks simply awful. But the style book says it is permissible, even proper. If your goal is clarity, I mean. I realize that doesn't always apply to you. :)
ReplyDeletePeace and coos.
ReplyDeleteYou are developing a Liszt now.
ReplyDeleteLisp I mean.
ReplyDeleteIsn't your mail due to be collected or something?
ReplyDeleteYes. I'm just going now and may be some time.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't take long. I doubt many people venture close enough to post a letter with all those squirrels in there. :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband claims to be a dragon.
ReplyDeleteIn his honor, I always include a dragon in every novel (along with at least one cat, which I was doing before I met him). I have an Oriental style dragon in "Catalyst." Since I mostly write fantasy/science fiction, it's not often a problem, but I had to struggle in "Saving Tessa" which was surprisingly mundane. I had to settle for a dragon tattoo (on the chauffeur).
@Stephanie - I think that's fascinating. I ended up reading a lot about dragons when I was surfing for this little post. I didn't know how many kinds there were! If I were a dragon, I would be the kind that breathes lightning bolts, but I would have arms and better looking wings. :) I would be called Puff and children would love me. I'm not sure if that last is a truly original thought...
ReplyDeleteSometimes dragons are hard to fit in novels, I imagine.
Managed so far. The "old one" in "Tarot Queen" was definitely of the fire-breathing variety and is easily one of my favorite characters ever, even though he only played out over three of four pages.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite character as a child was a Phoenix and he lasted the whole book riding me on his back to strange lands and introducing me to the other mythological beasts (that's where I met my first Griffen too. I think it was Griffen.) It was fun until he went up in flames. A sad ending which had one last page and I was happy again.
ReplyDelete