From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   John F. Eldredge  wrote:   
   >On Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:17:52 -0400, Brian M. Scott wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Tue, 25 Aug 2015 23:27:45 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt    
   >> wrote in in rec.arts.sf.composition:   
   >>   
   >>> In article ,   
   >>> William Vetter   wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>> I think that this word has separate, almost conflicting meanings in US   
   >>>> and UK.   
   >>   
   >>>> In UK it means jittery, restless, unpredictable.   
   >>   
   >>>> In US, especially rural US, it means cunning, a trickster, difficult   
   >>>> to pin down.   
   >>   
   >>>> Is this so?   
   >>   
   >>> In my experience (73 years in the US, but mostly in the West) it means   
   >>> crazy.   
   >>   
   >> In mine it’s not that strong: it’s ‘erratic, unpredictable,   
   >> likely to act without due regard for possible consequences to self and   
   >> others’.   
   >>   
   >> Brian   
   >   
   >Well, some people use the term "crazy" to mean what you described.  It   
   >certainly fits the personality of the squirrels I have encountered.   
      
   Perhaps you've come closer to squirrels than I have.  I've met   
   the ones on the UC Berkeley Campus, who are decidedly not tame,   
   but experience with humans who feed them have made them bold.   
   They'll come to your hand for food, but better to put the food   
   down on the ground lest they take your fingertip off with the   
   peanut.   
      
   Then there are the squirrels who live in and about my neighbor's   
   300-year-old oak tree.  Mostly they just frisk around and run   
   along the telephone wires, but in acorn season they have   
   ferocious battles with the blue jays over who gets to harvest   
   Every. Single. Acorn.  It gets pretty noisy.  If I were the size   
   of a squirrel, I'd run.   
      
   --   
   Dorothy J. Heydt   
   Vallejo, California   
   djheydt at gmail dot com   
   Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.   
   Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)