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| | Why is the pointer called a baton? If it's not called a pointer, why not call it a wand?[[User:J Milstein|J Milstein]] ([[User talk:J Milstein|talk]]) 04:35, 19 November 2020 (UTC) | | Why is the pointer called a baton? If it's not called a pointer, why not call it a wand?[[User:J Milstein|J Milstein]] ([[User talk:J Milstein|talk]]) 04:35, 19 November 2020 (UTC) |
| − | :I've never seen anyone call it a "baton" before this analysis. Maybe it's a foreign thing? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.214|172.68.65.214]] 09:45, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | ::I would associate "baton" primarily with music conductors (but also relay races) where English has adopted the French/similar word for "stick". Meanwhile "pointer" ''might'' be right, but in my head relates more to a mouse-cursor these days, if there's a projected image. "Stick" itself seems to fit (there's much symmantic overlap, given it's just a different linguistic root of the same broad concept) but with not enough context could easily be a twig, thumb-drive, etc, so not entirely sure if it's the ideal replacement. English is complex like that, and I don't think there's a simple name that's universally better than any other. An imperfect search on an online store under office items gives "telescopic pointing stick" or (rarer) "...rod", from which we ''might'' drop the telescopic aspect given that's not an obvious/relevent detail above. But it was interesting to ponder... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.7|162.158.158.7]] 17:38, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | :I'm pretty sure they're called "pointers". And in modern times the physical sticks have been replaced with small laser devices, and they're called "laser pointers". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:49, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | :"Baton" is the French (and perhaps other languages) word for "wand," although it can also refer to the musical conducting stick. [[User:Duraludon|Duraludon]] ([[User talk:Duraludon|talk]]) 02:04, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | Can we keep the captured specimens in a brothel and ask them to enchant themselves to be irresistible to men? That way the conservation project can pay for itself, and it would merely be whoroing instead of harrowing. I'll show myself out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.195|172.68.142.195]] 19:01, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | I got the feeling that the quotation marks in 'harrowing' are there because there is a wording joke. Since I lack vocabulary, I could not understand it, but it felt like a sex joke. Whoroing may be the intended one. (20/11/2020)
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| − | :by context, it's in quotes because she quotes the biologists. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.231|162.158.91.231]] 17:14, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | :it's also an agricultural term. After you plough the land, you harrow it. The gerund is "harrowing". Probably a typical activity in the type of landscapes the comic references? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.43|162.158.158.43]] 20:07, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
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| − | :Another possible definition could be this, from the ''Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina'' series? [https://riverdale.fandom.com/wiki/Harrowing]
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| − | :: To harrow and to plough (plow) were methods of "tilling fertile soil" (old sense of tilling). As such, both terms were used as euphemisms for coitus (or to ravish) as in, "He harrowed his wife." "Harrowing" as a word (not a gerund) means "acutely distressing" as in, "Joe had a harrowing experience," and breeding Blair witches certainly would be such an experience, if they were real. So I think Randall has pulled off a truly epic pun. [[User:CoyneT|CoyneT]] ([[User talk:CoyneT|talk]]) 04:50, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
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