From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   Kay Shapero wrote:   
   > In article , mdhangton@gmail.com says...   
   >>   
   >> Kay Shapero wrote:   
   >>> In article , mdhangton@gmail.com says...   
   >>>>   
   >>>> aileuromorphic   
   >>>>   
   >>>> vibrissae   
   >>>>   
   >>>> metapodia   
   >>>>   
   >>>> calcaneus   
   >>>   
   >>> The first two certainly go together - if your characters are catlike,   
   >>> whiskers seem to be an obvious choice.  Though it would depend heavily   
   >>> on scansion in my case since I generally write songs, not stories.   
   >>>   
   >>> Probably not the other two   
   >>   
   >> You don't see it.  In the cat family, the legs are extended by the   
   >> lengthening of the metapodia, while the animal stands on its toes.  The   
   >> calcaneus never touches the ground while walking.  This gives the   
   >> felids their gracility.  In the family Procyonidae, the metapodia are   
   >> less elongated and lie on the ground while the raccoon walks, yet the   
   >> calcaneus never touches the ground as it does for hominids.   
   >   
   > Ahh.. those two words are less common than the first too so I had to   
   > look them up so was thinking more in terms of bones not their usages.   
   > Still doubt I'd use them, though.   
      
   I had been building myself up to write the scene where the monster   
   first appears...a lot of research for something that will seem trivial.   
    The POV character is the fired financial officer of a megabank, so his   
   mouth can tolerate some rather high diction, maybe even ailouromorphic,   
   but I took it all out.  His character voice is about exotic emotions,   
   anyhow.  The rest are words for the mouth of a paleontologist.  I would   
   really like to use the word calcaneus.  When I try to use the word   
   heelbone, the result is unsatisfactory.   
      
   Thanks for letting me burp up some of my research.  Sometimes the urge   
   becomes overpowering.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)