Complex Numbers

Isn't It Draconic?

"Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024"   [13+] by WakeUpAndLive~doingNaNo'24

Prompt 4. Sept 4.

Photo prompts. (Choose 1,2,3 or 4 and write fiction or non-fiction)

PhotoPrompt 3

I'm only posting the prompt pic I picked. One of the others was a blue rubber duck, and I almost picked that one, but dismissed it as "too cute."

Ducks and dragons are related, though.

A drake is a male duck. A drake is also, depending on the source, a particular subtype of dragon, or a synonym for dragon. The latter has a different etymology, one which is more apparent when you consider the adjective form, "draconic."

That should not be confused with "draconian," which is used to describe oppressive policies. Nor should it be confused with the explorer Sir Francis Drake, or his namesake Frank Drake, originator of the Drake Equation, which has nothing to do with dragons. Unless aliens are dragons. Which isn't technically impossible.

Another synonym for dragon is worm, or wyrm, which also confused me as a kid. English is weird.

Dragons are, unlike ducks, creatures of fantasy. Unless you count Komodo dragons, though I say that's cheating. But I have this hypothesis that dragons were dinosaurs.

Why were dragons part of the folklore of several geographically separate cultures? I think it's because of dinosaur bones. Some ancient t-rex or brontosaurus skeleton or whatever got exposed via erosion. Early humans, clever and creative but without our understanding of geological time, might have seen these enormous bones poking out of some sedimentary rock, and pictured what sort of creature might have made them. Clearly, it was a giant, flying, fire-breathing, gold-hoarding monster, because what else could it be?

But also, ducks are dinosaurs.

All birds are. Lots of dinosaur lineages indeed went extinct, but at least one survived into modern times and their genetically-plastic descendants exploded into the vast diversity of avian species we encounter today. Those eggs you had for breakfast? Dinosaur eggs. That KFC bucket you reluctantly bought over the Labor Day weekend? Kentucky-fried dinosaur parts.

Don't feel bad about eating chicken. Their ancestors probably munched on ours. Colonel Sanders was just doling out payback.

So, if you're wondering what a dragon would taste like... well, it would probably taste like chicken.

Or duck.

Unlike our modern birds, though, dragon meat might even come pre-cooked. All that fire breath had to do something to their insides, right?

Let's do this again. We get to give out a free Merit Badge every day this week. Want one? Anyone who comments here before 11:30 pm WDC time today could get today's. (I'll need that extra half-hour to pick a winner and send the badge before midnight.)

To clarify:

When I say "comment," I mean comment. Not review. Though reviews are always welcome.
I also mean "here," not on the newsfeed post.
MB recipient will be chosen at random.
Maximum of one MB per commenter for the week.
If I don't get comments, I'll pick a previous commenter, and maybe not at random.
The MB will be the one I commissioned two years ago, "Complexity," which is a publicly available MB.
I appreciate all comments; this is just a little incentive.