I love the words “somnambulist” and “perambulator”. They are superb – sublime, even. I don’t know what they mean, but I still love them. I have looked them up many times, mid-sentence in a book by Gunter Grass or George Orwell, but I always forget their meaning. Nevertheless, whenever I read these words I immediately suspect the author of genius. Friedrich Nietzsche once said that all great ideas occur while walking (which just means that he must have spent a lot of time sitting down). While I walk a lot, I don’t have many great ideas. I am happy, though, when on a walk, to simply reflect on these words.
Not a Nietzsche fan, eh? Haha. I’m sure he did sit a lot. It must have been very tiresome to sport such a large ‘stache. And of course – to be crazy.
Whenever I’m "taking a walk," I’m usually chasing a three-year-old or thinking about the bills I need to pay. There are just some words that aren’t meant to be spoken in casual conversations, unless you want to catch a sneer from a peer (ha). But they are quite beautiful, especially in novels.
Chris, having lived my first two years in England, I am well-acquainted with perambulator, or "baby buggy" as my (Irish) mother would say. The American equivalents (stroller or carriage), are much less interesting.