01 April 2012

Newts of the World

What do people do all day. And if you were a newt, what would you do?
I unearthed this one while fettling by an old stone wall in a quiet part of the garden. It posed very patiently for photos and still didn't move when I'd finished. As a species it is a complete enigma. 'Great crested' comes to mind, which this isn't, and 'Gussie Fink-Nottle', the fish-faced newt fancier. That is it.
Somebody please edify.

9 comments:

  1. Most newts are the Common Newt. We have them living in our pond - and I don't rate the chances of the frog spawn very highly as a consequence! Apart from that, I don't know too much about them. But they do like damp places.
    OrganicRosie

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    1. Thank you Rosie. Had thought that all amphibians were friends!

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  2. All politicians aside, I love newts. They always seem so docile and ready to lend an open ear. We get lots of them at my parents' house in Vermont.

    I don't know who your friend is, but a quick search turned up this article which I thought was charming, and the newt pictured did look similar.

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    1. What a well-hidden ear that is. Pissed as a newt = wobbly walking? well I never.

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  3. You woke it up - it's probably pretty lively after dark. I don't move much when somebody roots me out of bed in the middle of the night.
    Was Gussie Fink-Nottle the one who kept newts?

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    1. Especially for a photo-shoot!
      And yes, Wodehouse might be implying that newt-fanciers are socially inept. There's more to this than I had realised...

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  4. I am as mystified by fettling as I am by newts. They seem to go together but I've no idea what fettling entails. Is it like whittling, and if so, don't you have better things to do?

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    1. Whittling I believe is sharpening something to a fine point and fettling is tidying up to a point of acceptable neatness so, fancying either of these too much might be on a level socially with newt-fancying.
      But don't tell me you don't fettle at the weekend, and even in the day job.

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  5. Thank you for clarifying "in fine fettle" and "pissed as a newt". One endeavors to keep a healthy balance of the two at the work place.

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