birding-aus

Re: birding-aus dead finish

To: <>, "John Leonard" <>
Subject: Re: birding-aus dead finish
From: "Bob & Sadhana Cook" <>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:58:06 +1000
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
> 
> 
> To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
> 
> Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
> quotes)
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU