03 August 2015

Good home needed for small lighthouses

Seen in a charity shop window
What's the collective (venereal) noun for lighthouses? There probably isn't one because they are singular occurrences... perhaps "a superfluity of lighthouses" ... an enthusiasm of lighthouses? a failsafe of lighthouses?

Or just ... a typology of lighthouses ...

Lighthouses are a dying breed: "Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational systems such as strobes." Gone, then, is the romance (or otherwise) of being a lighthouse keeper.

(later...) that elusive noun might be "consolation" ... a consolation of lighthouses ... as in the penultimate paragraph of Kathleen Jamie's essay about midwinter in Orkney at http://www.theguardian.com/books/lrb/articles/0,,1124890,00.html

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Tautology of lighthouses perhaps? Sally