![FERLY
by Orson O’Riley
Let’s talk bear. Pandas are wonderful (durr) but even my nephew knows about them and he is a nitwit. Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus exists only as fossilized crud in a dusty vault—it’s strange for sure, but about as interesting as as the skin on my butterscotch pudding. Garden variety brown bears? They are neither wonderful nor strange; they are ordinary. But what of the missing fourth quadrant: bears that are both strange AND wonderful? Bears like werebears and carebears and ursa major—how could they be described? Fabulous and marvelous don’t convey unfamiliarity. Uncanny, peculiar, and curious don’t quite convey wonder. If only there was a single word that could fill this void. [SPOLIER ALERT: it’s ferly]
To get there, we must hop in our DeLorean and point it to the 1400s. This was back when everything was strange. Forests were strange! Birds were (and still are) strange! Children that threw fits were strange! This was also back when everything was still full of wonder. Rain was full of wonder! Socks were full of wonder! Porridge was full of wonder! In short, everything fit into our werebear quadrant—everything was FERLY. It’s easy to look at and easy to say, yet there is a tinge of the exotic in ferly. Indeed, there is a tinge of ferly in ferly.
Back now in 1985, where former-wonders have been vivisected to smithereens and apathetic youths find interest only in their walkmans and rubik’s cubes, is ferly still a thing? Indeed it is! Lake Vostok is ferly! The Fibonacci sequence is ferly! Dirigibles are ferly! To belabor my point, I direct you to exhibit A: a chart on what’s ferly and what ain’t; a chart that the boys at Kinkos were all to eager to make for you.
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orson and i were on the high school mathlete squadron. what can be said about him that doesn’t conflict with his fanatic attempt to guard his privacy? he has a pet turtle? his ring fingers are longer than his middle fingers? he speaks with a peculiar hungarian accent which is entirely affected? he is an elite member of the cowboy aristocracy?
this post is an entry in the word idol series. you can learn about this series here.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuggg4JoPL1qzrip0o1_500.png)
FERLY
Let’s talk bear. Pandas are wonderful (durr) but even my nephew knows about them and he is a nitwit. Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus exists only as fossilized crud in a dusty vault—it’s strange for sure, but about as interesting as as the skin on my butterscotch pudding. Garden variety brown bears? They are neither wonderful nor strange; they are ordinary. But what of the missing fourth quadrant: bears that are both strange AND wonderful? Bears like werebears and carebears and ursa major—how could they be described? Fabulous and marvelous don’t convey unfamiliarity. Uncanny, peculiar, and curious don’t quite convey wonder. If only there was a single word that could fill this void. [SPOLIER ALERT: it’s ferly]
To get there, we must hop in our DeLorean and point it to the 1400s. This was back when everything was strange. Forests were strange! Birds were (and still are) strange! Children that threw fits were strange! This was also back when everything was still full of wonder. Rain was full of wonder! Socks were full of wonder! Porridge was full of wonder! In short, everything fit into our werebear quadrant—everything was FERLY. It’s easy to look at and easy to say, yet there is a tinge of the exotic in ferly. Indeed, there is a tinge of ferly in ferly.
Back now in 1985, where former-wonders have been vivisected to smithereens and apathetic youths find interest only in their walkmans and rubik’s cubes, is ferly still a thing? Indeed it is! Lake Vostok is ferly! The Fibonacci sequence is ferly! Dirigibles are ferly! To belabor my point, I direct you to exhibit A: a chart on what’s ferly and what ain’t; a chart that the boys at Kinkos were all to eager to make for you.
__
orson and i were on the high school mathlete squadron. what can be said about him that doesn’t conflict with his fanatic attempt to guard his privacy? he has a pet turtle? his ring fingers are longer than his middle fingers? he speaks with a peculiar hungarian accent which is entirely affected? he is an elite member of the cowboy aristocracy?
this post is an entry in the word idol series. you can learn about this series here.
