A word, well, several words, about the geoduck. The first thing you need to know about it is, you're pronouncing it wrong. Try this: "gooeyduck". I know, you want to say it like one of those silly little cars, but it's got, really, practically nothing in common with the silly little cars. Frankly, it's bigger than the silly little cars. Well, okay, that's not true. But it sure looks that way. Being confronted with a geoduck is enough to frighten shut-ins and small children. It's a lot bigger than it should be, but it still looks a lot bigger than it is. Geoducks have no sense of proportion.
The Nisqually Nation in 1917 issued a firm rebuttal to the linguistic misapprehension, explaining that the word is derived from "gweduc", which means "to dig deep" in their language. They're not the only ones to have claimed the word, though. The Chinook, the French, and historians trying to pretend Hudson's Bay Trading Company had some kind of redeeming virtues, have all declared it theirs, in addition to a rather improbable story about a duck-hunting governor of our state. Nonetheless, say it "gooeyduck". Go on, do it. Just to make me happy. It's a fun word. Gooeyduck. I mean, it's not "weasel" or "rutabaga", but as these things go, "gooeyduck" is a first tier fun word.
Okay, so what exactly is this thing I've just learned to say, you might be asking. A geoduck is a shellfish native to the waters of Puget Sound and the fish mongeries of Seattle. Otherwise known as "Panopea generosa", (the newfangled Linnean is "Panopea abrupta", but I have no truck with that sort of thing. I'm still holding a grudge over the Mahonia renaming. Call me a traditionalist.) or simply, "that big clam that looks like a horse's willy". And oh, boy, does it.
If you want to dig up a geoduck on
a Washington beach, you can get a license here:
http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/regs/2002/02regs-3.pdf
If you want to know about red tide
in geoducks, you can look here:
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/biotoxin.htm
If you want to buy a picture of it
to hang on your wall, you can get one here:
http://www.chartingnature.com/Geoduck-3530.cfm
If you want a copy of the Field Guide
to the Geoduck, you can buy one here:
http://www.sasquatchbooks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SBBooks.woa/2/wo/xa5nqTFAkHcmFabAeEbJS0/2.0.52.32.2.0
And if you want to eat a geoduck,
there are a lot of organizations out there that can help you adjust your medications,
or at least fit you for a straightjacket. Frankly, they're rubbery, greasy,
and gritty. They taste like fried fat. Given the choice, I have willingly licked
banana slugs rather than eat geoduck. (I have eaten geoduck. I've also eaten
sea cucumber, squid, sea urchin, and octopus. I still feel guilty about that
last. No one tell Magic.)
Harpy hdsidhe@gmail.com Handmaiden of the Goddess of Irony