Geodesic—word of the day
The divaricating structure of a muhlenbeckia astonii bush is the opposite of geodesic, and yet to a writer, similarities abound
Word of the day and this week’s writing prompt is “geodesic”, familiar to mathematicians and to survivors of the 1970s. If it’s new to you, give us your best guess as to its meaning! Or use it as a blogging prompt. Are we thinking bendy or rigid, scientific or psychedelic or what? Word of the day is to brood over and play with.
I’m currently watching Series 1 of MIRANDA. featuring the gangly, awkward, hilarious Brit actress Miranda Hart. She often repeats odd words – usually perfectly ordinary words – mouthing them over and over, savouring the sound, the mouth shape they produce and the results are funny. I can only imagine the fun she would have with a polysyllabic word like geodesic. Gee- oh- deee-sik ….
What a marvel! Yes I can imagine that.
Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome immediately comes to mind, the shape similar to those plants! The strength and rigidity, however, very different 😊
It’s quite a leap.
I, too, thought immediately of Bucky. But the principle has long been in use among the tribes of Mongolia – the yurt – and the circumpolar peoples such as the Inuit – the hunting igloo. Spanish speakers will recognize the shape as the Quinta, a one or two night shelter built as a dome of interwoven branches. (The American motel chain – La Quinta – comes from this concept).
Hooray! You have linked the word to the image. Quite a feat.
I can never think of the word “geodesic” without immediately following it with the word “dome.” Of course this marks me as someone who experienced the 70’s. 🙂
Indeed we did.
I never see a shed collapsing around here without thinking of a documentary I used to show my students about Fuller. He explained that four sided buildings would always collapse. Of course the playground at my daughter’s school had a geodesic dome instead of my four sided jungle gym.