Today’s Zits comic strip sets up a baffling list of ridiculous and raunchy-sounding things Jeremy’s father wants for Christmas — a Wiggly Pickle! Kinky Beavers! — and resolves the puzzle in the final panel.
(#1) Fishing lures, kids, fishing lures; apparently all from the Reaction Innovations fishing lure supply company, and so known to a substantial number of fishing enthusiasts
I suspected what was going on when spinners and crickets turned up in the second panel. But it’s still a sweet set-up.
Let’s look at Kinky Beavers. From the company’s site:
(#2) [AZ:] Some Kinky Beavers, named for the large semiaquatic rodent with a notable tail, not a woman’s pubic area; Blacklight is the name of the colorKINKY BEAVER $6.25 Kinky Beavers have a subtle swimming action that huge bass can’t resist. Great for times when fish want a little more action to entice a strike. Many of our pro anglers like to modify the Kinky when flipping heavy matted vegetation, by removing the center antennas. Another modification is to remove the side flaps which makes the feet swim even harder!
The point of course, is not to produce something that looks and acts like a beaver’s tail (the beaver connection is for the fisherman), but something that (to a fish) looks and acts like an insect.
Why aren’t these names in the OED? (And probably never will be) At least after some date, the OED isn’t a record of every word that’s appeared in print in English. Instead it aims to record words of some general currency. So, for the most part, it excludes vocabulary confined to small and/or specialized groups. Though that’s a delicate judgment, not one that could be mechanized — nor, since specialized vocabulary has a way of leaking into the wider world, one that could be fixed for all time. There’s always a tiny chance that Kinky Beavers will have their day.
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