It's those legs again!

Both of my regular readers (Mary and Slim Bridge) will have read my post earlier this week, when I indicated that I need to catch up with the reporting of events on my blog, as the last thing they want is to read happenings that took place a month ago. 

Let me elaborate on what a Microtibialist is and how the name came about.

Backwind to 25^th July 2016 when I had nothing of interest bird-wise for my blog, and I wrote about my collection of legs. I won’t elaborate about this hobby (you can read the July blog for more info), but sufficient to remind you that I have been collecting bijouterie, or trinkets, in the shape of a human leg, since 2009, and 93 of them fulfil a practical function. Antique dealers that I meet from time to time, and one specific BBC producer, always address me as “The Leg man”.

First some examples of the sort of “legs” I collect.

  

                                   l

Being saddled with the name “The Leg Man” I decided it was time to try and establish a specific name for this particular hobby for which no name currently exists.

I did this by writing a letter to the Letters section of the Daily Telegraph, and the following is my letter published on the 13th February 2017:-

               

Incidentally, even at this point, I had achieved a bucket list objective which I had previously failed for about 10 years…I had a letter published in the Daily Telegraph. I have had letters published in local papers, but not a National….Phewww!

5 people sent in suggestions which the Telegraph published (there may have been others that either duplicated, or the editor thought better than publish!), 2 people sent e-mails to the Editor offering legs for sale (forwarded and bought!), one lady tracked me down and telephoned with a suggestion (clean!), and another posted me a plastic golf tee in the shape of a nude woman (in a plain envelope), with the comment that he was too embarrassed to use it when playing golf,                                                 

The Power of the press.

The suggestions submitted by readers not surprisingly included Lego (which I thought may have a brand name problem), mania (not an attractive choice), and a range of suggestions in English, Latin and Greek. Mary and I churned the options round, and finally came up with a word that was straightforward to pronounce, rememberable (is that a word?), and explainable...                                                                                                  

                                                                   Microtibialist.

This can be explained thus:  MICRO - small;   TIBIA – leg; LIST – “one who does”  =  MICROTIBIALIST.

I must mention one clever suggestion, which will ring bells for those of you of the generation that used to watch Pete (Peter Cooke) and Dud (Dudley Moore) on TV. In one particular sketch, Dud, an actor with only one (right) leg, is being interviewed by a theatrical agent (Pete) for the role of Tarzan in a forthcoming film. At one point, Pete tells Dud that there is “not much demand for Unidexterologists".  This translates as Uni (one) dexter (right in Heraldry) and ologists. I did not pursue this suggestion as "leg" does not appear in the word.

I recall the sketch, but not the line, but I do recall Pete saying to Dud “ Your right leg I love, I have  nothing against your right leg. Unfortunately neither do you.!”

Now with 94 legs in my collection (of which 10 were the result of my published letter), I now have to see whether I qualify for the Guinness book of records, and whether the Oxford University Press will add the word. Now that WILL be fun.

And if you have or know of any micro-legs that could enhance my collection, please add a comment 

on my blog.