TZETZE (or TSETSE) FLY, n. An African insect (Glossina morsitans) whose bite is commonly regarded as nature's most efficacious remedy for insomnia, though some patients prefer that of the American novelist (Mendax interminabilis).
2009 Update: A large fly native to sub-saharan Africa, principally known for spreading somnolence among vertebrates and alacrity among crossword puzzle solvers.
12 comments:
Tsetse fly, because nothing is big or dangerous enough to Africa...
If a tsetse fly bites a boring novelist, the fly falls asleep.
I was googling all over the place to figure out what the post was even saying LOL. :) Have a great Friday :) Thank goodness I knew what TseTse was!!
Hi, Karen! Not really, but I read each word of the sentence I want to reply to.
Not even tsetse flies are as irritating or sleep inducing as some guests.
It's a tossup whether African are more irritated at the flies or at the English name for them - tsetse means "fly", and so "tsetse fly" falls in the same category as "Mt. Fujiyama" (Mount Fuji Mount) or "Hanauma Bay" (Bay Shelter Bay).
The sleeping sickness is actually caused by a protozoon that the fly carries around with it. The protozoon is named after a guy named Bruce. Who was not, despite rumors to the contrary, a founding member of the Village People.
I've always been afraid of that tzetze fly. A few glasses of wine (or other) starts with the alacrity for me. Eventually comes the somnolence. Then morning (after).
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I got stuck for a second on the "alacrity among crossword puzzle solvers" part, then I woke up.
Amoeba, your comment is so gay I'm worried about your well-being.
Merry Christmas to all!
Nope, Ariel. The whole world seems to spend it's time looking for the bigger and deadlier.
Haha, TLP. A martyr for mankind.
You too, Thom. Brother Ambrose does that to me as well.
Ariel, the comment to which you are replying is no longer there. Reading carefully is but vanity, I guess.
But at least you're free to complain about the fly, Quilly.
The Gobi desert and the Sierra Mountains. Redundancy is the natural result of translation.
Jim, it's the next morning you'll take the fly.
Haha, Cooper. I guess lexicographers shouldn't make fun of novelists.
Happy Kwanzaa, Karen. Was it your birthday?
No, my birthday isn't until February. Maybe it was Jenna's?
More fun to say than to encounter is the buzz on the Tsetse fly.
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