While reading Dean Koontz’s book The House at the End of the World (Bookshop|Amazon), a listener in Ramona, California, encountered the perfect word for the walks he takes with his dog. He now refers to such an excursion as a sniffari. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “At Ramona, They’re Walking the Nose”
We had a voicemail from Rex Childhouse in Ramona, California, and he said he came across a word in his reading that he now uses all the time.
He was reading The House at the End of the World by Dean Koons when he learned a word that he now applies when he walks his dog, and that word is sniffari.
Safari, of course.
Yeah.
The dog sees the world differently than we do because their nose is this extra sensory layer.
Yeah, it’s a combination of safari and sniffing.
And as you suggested, Grant, a dog has many, many more sensory receptor sites than a human.
And that’s why a lot of dog experts will tell you, just let your dog go on a sniffari.
Just sniff and sniff and, you know, don’t necessarily have a root in mind.
Because when they do that, they get worn out very quickly because their noses are doing so much work.
So Rex now refers to those walks as sniffaris.
I call it checking the p-mail.
Oh, I’ve heard you say that before.
My dog checks his p-mail.
Same thing.
Well, you can send us Gmail, hopefully, and not p-mail to words@waywordradio.org.
