Talk:Roche moutonnée

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Latest comment: 1 month ago5 comments3 people in discussion

Doesn't "taper in the direction of flow" imply that the hill is most tapered (i.e. lowest) nearest the foot of the glacier? That's not right, is it?

Leptinella 00:19, 18 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

Origin of the term

I'd beg to differ with the explanation given of 'fleecy rock'. In their standard work on the subject 'Glaciers & Glaciation' (Arnold, London 1998) Douglas Benn and David Evans claim that it was 'de Saussure' who in 1786 coined the term 'roches moutonnées'. He saw in these rocks a resemblance to the wigs that were fashionable amongst gentry in his era and which were smoothed over with mutton fat hence 'moutonnée' so as to keep the hair in place. Anyone know anything more about this?
Geopersona (talk) 04:40, 20 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

The notion that the term means 'sheep rock' is a popular misconception (spread by generations of misinformed geography teachers?) which won't go away quickly - I have changed a recent edit to correct this. The French word for sheep is mouton, whilst moutonnière is sheep-like, however whilst moutonnée can mean fleecy or frizzy like the back of a sheep, a defining feature of these rocks is that they are smooth and very much not 'frizzy' or 'fleecy'. thanks Geopersona (talk) 09:52, 12 February 2012 (UTC)Reply

So a literal translation into English would be sheeped rock or perhaps muttoned rock.

Nuttyskin (talk) 10:17, 23 November 2024 (UTC)Reply

'Muttonned rock', I'd guess though that's misleading without some qualification! However it seems the m word can also mean 'wavy', and see also the wiktionary entry for moutonner at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moutonner . Geopersona (talk) 11:05, 23 November 2024 (UTC)Reply

Circumflex in roche seems very affected & not supported by evidence of usage in English

Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

I thought only the New Yorker was keen on archaic orthography of words derived from French! I suggest the usage be changed to a plain o for the following reasons : the circumflex in words like roche is no longer a regular part of French orthography; there is no evidence of it having been used in books published in Englis (see google ngram); reputable English dictionaries dont use it (e.g., Oxford Dictionaries online; and, as said in the heading it looks very affected. Semudobia (talk) 10:31, 9 July 2017 (UTC)Reply

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Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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