What new word did you learn today?

[Stuart Dren]

I think if not for a video game from 2001 I probably wouldn't know the word gulch.

Arroyo and Coulee are new to me, though I think I would have a hard time telling them apart.

 

[Rad Scribbler]

Sometimes this new word game surprises me. Never occurred to me that "gulch" might be unfamiliar to someone who doesn't live in the western US. Are you familiar with draw, arroyo, ravine, or coulee?

I'm only familiar with 'ravine' - the word and it's meaning.

 

[Also]

I learned that particularly in the US, lambasting need not be verbal or figurative.

What next? Do we literally rake someone over the coals? I for one haven't done that.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Are you familiar with draw, arroyo, ravine, or coulee?

As terms of geography? Just ravine. It's what we call the treed incline at the back of my yard.

 

[Schism]

I think if not for a video game from 2001 I probably wouldn't know the word gulch.

Arroyo and Coulee are new to me, though I think I would have a hard time telling them apart.

Would that be Halo?

Think I learned Arroyo from Fallout 2.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Would that be Halo?

Yep. And I refuse to call that a retro game.

 

[JLT]

turnt

which popped up in today's crossword puzzle. It means " extremely excited, wild, or drunk."
And on looking it up, I find that there was a TV series by that name that came out eight years ago. When I see things like that, I wonder where I've been, and what I've been missing.

 

[defaux]

there are several places in the US called "Whiskey Gulch"

We have a Whiskey Gully, does that count?

arroyo

had to look that one up, from Collins:

mainly Southwestern US
a steep-sided stream bed that is usually dry except after heavy rain

Spanish origin apparently.

 

[defaux]

vertiginous

very high and steep
of, relating to, or having vertigo

 

[JLT]

We have a Whiskey Gully, does that count?

Sure, why not?

had to look that one up, from Collins:

Spanish origin apparently.

Yes, arroyo is from the Spanish, when all the American Southwest was New Spain. Arroyos are particularly treacherous because, while they are usually dry as a bone, a thunderstorm can send water down them in great quantities. The water picks up all the loose stones and gravel it can, and by the time it reaches you it's like walking or driving through a cement truck's output. And there's very little warning.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Many words and names in America come from Spanish, especially in states that had a long history of being Spanish colonies (e.g. California, New Mexico, Arizona). I wouldn't be surprised if some places in Pennsylvania had words or place names of German origin.

But I'm not going to Australiansplain things like that to Americans, so I'll just stow my jawin' tackle and belay. (To quote W. S. Gilbert).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Too late, Rath. You already did, but se perdono.

Lots of native names on the land, too.

 

[JLT]

Too late, Rath. You already did, but se perdono.

Lots of native names on the land, too.

Particularly on rivers. The white settlers of North America did their best to name things in their own languages, we still have the Potomac, the Patapsco, the Shenendoah, the Suwannee, and many others. There are quite a few "Avons" in England, from a Celtic word for "river." I'm sure that there are plenty of rivers in Australia whose names were coined by the Aborigines.