Word of the day: Bucolic

Narphangu posted a poem written in prose called "Bucolic" and brought my attention to this beautiful gem of a word.

Aime Cesaire - Bucolic

Then very gently the earth grows a mane, swivels maneuvering its well-oiled octopus head, turns over in its brain an idea clearly visible in the area of circumvolutions, then rushes on at full speed, carrying away in a sinister flight of rocks and meteors, the river, the horses, the horsemen and the houses.
And as the silver of chests blackens, as the water of piscinas swells, as the tombstones are unsealed, as the bucolic installs in the hollow a sea of mud which nonchalantly smokes the best maccaboy of the century, gigantic lights flash off in the distance and, under their black mushroom helmets, observe a hill, good russet shepherd, who with a phosphorescent bamboo pushes a tall herd of shivering temples and cities into the sea.

Bucolic
-adj.
-noun

Pronunciation:
[byoo-KOL-ik]

Definition:
-Adjective
1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.
2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.

–noun
3. a pastoral poem.
4. Archaic . a farmer; shepherd; rustic.

Etymology:
1610s, earlier bucolical (1520s), from L. bucolicus, from Gk. boukolikos "pastoral, rustic," from boukolos "cowherd, herdsman," from bous "cow" + -kolos "tending," related to L. colere "to till (the ground), cultivate, dwell, inhabit" (the root of colony).

Ha, it's weird how words sound to different people. To you, it's a beautiful gem. To me, it's like horse shit solidifying on a sticky hot road.

The fact that it sounds like a mixture of bubonic and colic might have something to do with it. In short, to me it sounds as far away from the nurture and serenity of pastoral life as you can get.

I had to look up that word when I first read the poem. Like Abby, I thought it meant something unpleasant.
But I'm glad you chose it. It's a cool word. :)

It also reminds me of broccoli.