Goodness, Mr. Beagles has certainly done his homework on the tick topic, which makes sense since he is the most likely of this group to encounter them. I have nothing to add except that the Lone Star Tick is the one responsible for those meat allergies I've been reading about.
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Humans, as a rule, don't generally fling feces but we are certainly adept at shoveling shit, aren't we? Excremental expression must be a simian trait; I'm not aware of other species that behave in such a manner. I had to look up plurale tantum; it looked like Latin to me also (and it is) but it didn't seem to have any connection to feces. I had a couple of years of Latin in high school but I've never heard that expression before; good catch, Uncle Ken! Q: What do scissors, pants, eyeglasses, and feces all have in common? A: They are all plurale tantum!
Maybe feces shouldn't be in that group since it is the plural nominative form of the third declension noun faex, meaning dregs in classical Latin. It didn't mean human excrement until its use in 17th century English. We're probably pronouncing it wrong, too. The Latin letter 'c' was pronounced as 'k' so it should be spoken something like "feekees," which sounds like a good name for a sugary breakfast cereal. An argument could be made that, metaphorically, we have to eat feekees frequently.
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Since umbrellas are held in the hand they seem to be a very slight burden, but I like my hands unencumbered. The hooded rain jacket is my garment of choice in wet weather. Umbrellas seem to have limited utility, only good for something like exiting a vehicle and immediately entering shelter. If it's raining heavily or is windy, forget it, you'll get pretty wet. But it has an advantage in that it can be shared. You may be a hero to some sweet young thing, as sung by The Hollies in that song...Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say. Please share my umbrella... It gets better; the bus goes, she stays, love grows, under that flimsy umbrella. Maybe it's just a British thing.
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