There's an ologist for everything under the sun. This morning, a Washington Post article on the waning popularity of mustaches and beards in India enlightened me to the term for the study of facial hair: pogonology. The feature cited commentary from pogonologist Richard McCallum, author of Hair India: A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Mustaches of Hindustan. Now, that's a book to display prominently on your coffee table.
Reading the Post feature about the dwindling of the "facial foliage" that has long distinguished Indian men -- to the extent that someone could create a coffee table book about it -- brought to mind a particularly choice term that didn't find its way into the piece: hirsute. I just like this word. Hirsute is a fun and funky term for "hairy." More specifically, it connotes being covered with hair. Pronounced "her-suit," it sounds vaguely similar to ursine, the Latin term for bear, a creature sporting a great, shaggy pelt. But all good qualities aside, it's a true ten-dollar term. You can see why there aren't many hair restoration product ads proclaiming to "return you to your full hirsute glory in just two weeks!"
Speaking of hair and India, I remember how perplexed I was staring at the saffron-robed men I encountered for the first time in my life in Boston Commons during a vacation many years ago. The sight of their shaved heads was entirely antithetical to the image I'd formed upon hearing my father point out the "hairy krishnas" -- at least that's how my callow teenage brain interpreted the moniker.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment