John
Dead Finish is the local name of a Central Australian bush. In the same
style as Salvation Jane was not the first female encountered by groups of
male explorers after being away for many months!!!??? I do not know the
botanical name, but on a trip in the West McDonnell Ranges last year, we
went on a sign-posted nature walk that identified a number of local species
of flora, including the "Dead Finish". As I recall it is a typical dry
area bush of about 1.5 to 2 metres in height with small leaves and brittle
branches. I believe the name may have been associated with the idea of it
being the last thing animals would eat, when everything else was exhausted.
Regards
Bob Cook
----------
> From: John Leonard <>
> To:
> Subject: birding-aus dead finish
> Date: Friday, 30 April 1999 13:32
>
> 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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