27 February 2021 - anserine

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 2021 : 27 February 2021

English, having been invented by an intelligent species, always makes sense. “If so,” you may foolishly try to rebut, “then why is the chemical anserine named by a word that also means ‘as silly as a goose’?” I can answerine that. Look at the molecular model and tell me that it does not represent a silly goose.

clue:

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/anserine#section=3D-Conformer

Note the goose’s oversize head and beak turned to one side and the two short legs. It’s easier to see if you uncheck “Show Hydrogens” and rotate the goose’s head to the top.

The sense “as silly as a goose” has fallen out of favor now that most educated people no longer speak Latin, so many dictionaries leave it out.

give me a clue so sweet and true