No need to ask your doctor about virga. That’s just the term for “a diagonal streak of rain that evaporates before it hits the ground.” It derives from the Latin for “rod,” and is related to virgule, a fancy name for that punctuation mark otherwise known as a slash. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Virga”
It’s cool word time, Martha. I have a cool word for you.
Okay.
There’s a word for rain that evaporates before it hits the ground.
Before it hits the ground.
Yeah, it’s Virga, V-I-R-G-A.
I did not know that.
I did not know that either. Isn’t that astonishing that they’re so specialized in the meteorological trades?
If they should use that word.
Yeah.
And it comes from the Latin,
From a word meaning rod or stripe.
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
Yeah, so you can imagine
The streaks of rain coming down,
But failing to reach the ground.
Yeah.
Yeah, I believe that’s related
To the word for slash.
Isn’t it virgule?
Yes, very good.
Exactly.
That’s exactly right.
But I did not know that about the word.
Virgule, V-I-R-G-U-L-E.
So they’re both related.
Interesting.
Cool word time.
Thank you.
If you’ve got a cool word
You want to share,
Or email words@waywordradio.org.
