birding-aus

Re: birding-aus dead finish

To: (John Leonard)
Subject: Re: birding-aus dead finish
From: Peter Woodall <>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 13:58:46 +1000
At 13:32 30/04/99 +1000, you wrote:
>This is a lexicographal point rather than an ornithological one; I hope it
>won't generate the heat that the juvenile/juvenal thread did (for the record
>I think that 'juvenal' is simply a rationalisation of the spelling of
>''juvenile' to reflect US pronounciation (cf 'missile') and a redundant one).
>
>Anyway, in Pizzey's (1997) account of the habitat of the Nullabour race of
>the Cinnamon Quail-thrush he writes 'bluebush, saltbush, dead finish, etc
>(Garnett 1993)'.
>
>I guess I know what he means by 'finish' in this sense, something like,
>'light vegetation arrived at a point of being dried or withered', but I
>can't find this sense in any dictionary and I tried, in order:
>
>1. The Macquarie
>2. The Australian National Dictionary (OUP)
>3. The OED (full edition, usually good on pre C20 Australian usage)
>4. The Oxford Dialect Dictionary (as many Australian usages are from English
>dialect usages)
>5. various US dictionaries, inc Webster's (in case it was originally a US
>usage).
>
>but none of them recognises 'finish' in this sense (it's much more common to
>be unable to track down an unusual use of a recognised word than an unusual
>word with no other senses).
>
>Presumably Pizzey knows it for a recognisable usage, in fact his book
>occasionally throws up some delighful uses, and older usages which are not
>common now, and presumably his previous editions were even better from this
>point of view.
>
>Is this phrase 'dead finish' in the previous Pizzey? do birding-ausers
>recognise the usage? Is the phrase in 'Garnett 1993' (whatever this is, the
>bibliography in Pizzey omits it).
>
>John Leonard
>
>
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>
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>
>
Hi John

Two points, first I wonder if its not a typo for "dead, finished" ???

Secondly I did a quick search on Zool Record for Garnett and came
up with the following 1993 publications:

Record 1 of 3 - Zoological Record Vol.129-133  
TI:  Notes on live night parrot sightings in north-western Queensland. 
AU:  Garnett-S; Crowley-G; Duncan-R; Baker-N; Doherty-P 
SO:  EMU 93(4), December 1993: 292-296, illustr. 
PY:  1993 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record 2 of 3 - Zoological Record Vol.129-133  
TI:  Eclectus parrot. 
AU:  Garnett-S; Crowley-G 
SO:  AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY 24(7), Summer 1993-1994(1993): 16-17, illustr. 
PY:  1993 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record 3 of 3 - Zoological Record Vol.129-133  
TI:  Do white-faced herons really eat dead cows? 
AU:  Garnett-S 
SO:  AUSTRALIAN BIRD WATCHER 15(1) 1993: 40-41. 
PY:  1993 

none seem the one you're looking for.

Cheers

Peter
Dr Peter Woodall                          email = 
Division of Vet Pathology & Anatomy             
School of Veterinary Science & An. Prod.  Phone = +61 7 3365 2300
The University of Queensland              Fax   = +61 7 3365 1355
Brisbane, Qld, Australia 4072             WWW  = http://www.uq.edu.au/~anpwooda
"hamba phezulu" (= "go higher" in isiZulu)





                                                             

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