This question keeps popping…

[rgraham666]

into my mind.

Is it areola or aureola?

And what's the freakin' plural for it?

(Mutters) I do have to get a dictionary one of these days

 

[Equinoxe]

An areola (plural areolae) is the area around the nipple, an aureola is a halo (it may also be used for the former, I'm not sure).

 

[rgraham666]

I've used the latter for that area for a long time. Kept getting called on it and switched to the former.

Doesn't look right to me somehow though.

Maybe it's one of those US/British spelling things?

 

[Guest]

An areola (plural areolae) is the area around the nipple, an aureola is a halo (it may also be used for the former, I'm not sure).

______

If you're a doctor, I'd suggest using areolae for the plural... if your a smut writer, I'd use areolas.

 

[CharleyH]

into my mind.

Is it areola or aureola?

And what's the freakin' plural for it?

(Mutters) I do have to get a dictionary one of these days

Great question. I always thought it was areoli? LOL Areola for single and ....

 

[Liar]

I always thought it was areoli?

That's some french garlic sause, innit?

 

[NoJo]

I posted an aureolae [sic] thread on the GB some time back, and there receieved all I ever wanted to know about areolae (not least the correct spelling) from the knowledgeable crowd there, from the medical to the smutty. With pictures.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I never use the word- I call it all nipples.

That's interesting, come to think of it...

 

[Equinoxe]

I've used the latter for that area for a long time. Kept getting called on it and switched to the former.

Doesn't look right to me somehow though.

Maybe it's one of those US/British spelling things?

I don't think so, but it could be possible. It would seem that the 1913 Webster's Dictionary considers aureola to, amongst other things, refer to the area around the nipple, which would presumably be as a variant spelling of areola. Etymologically speaking, areola is derived from the Latin area, "open space", and aureola from the Latin aureus, "gold".

If you're a doctor, I'd suggest using areolae for the plural... if your a smut writer, I'd use areolas.

And forgo Latinate forms for Latinate words? Barbaric.

 

[NoJo]

I never use the word- I call it all nipples.

That's interesting, come to think of it...

I'd like to call you "nipples", if I may

 

[Guest]

.
.

And forgo Latinate forms for Latinate words? Barbaric.

____

Conan, from what I read, liked to suck on those little bumps on the outer rim of the aerola, to get them to goosebump, waiting to surprise his maiden by then biting her nipple.


Just something I read.

 

[FallingToFly]

aureole is what my Word program accepts as coreect.

I've seen it spelled different ways, depending on where it was written.

 

[Guest]

aureole is what my Word program accepts as coreect.

I've seen it spelled different ways, depending on where it was written.

_________

But aureole has a different dictionary meaning than aerola. An aureole is a halo; an aerola is the halo around a nipple.

 

[glynndah]

_________

But aureole has a different dictionary meaning than aerola. An aureole is a halo; an aerola is the halo around a nipple.

And is there an example of when your readers might get confused?

 

[Equinoxe]

And is there an example of when your readers might get confused?

Well, there is a fair bit of pun potential for scenes involving breasts resting atop a saint's head, but that is a rather specific and unlikely scenario.

 

[NoJo]

Well, there is a fair bit of pun potential for scenes involving breasts resting atop a saint's head, but that is a rather specific and unlikely scenario.

On a related note, the wonderful circular rainbow you can see when you look down at the shadow of a plane you're flying in is known to pilots as the "glory hole". It was orginally just called the "glory", but you know pilots and their wonderful sense of humour.

 

[glynndah]

Well, there is a fair bit of pun potential for scenes involving breasts resting atop a saint's head, but that is a rather specific and unlikely scenario.

Funny, I was thinking strictly in astronomical terms, such as a halo around the moon.

 

[Guest]

And is there an example of when your readers might get confused?

Oh, sure... those that care to know the difference, like the many who take delight in catching all my grammar and spelling errors.

Well, there is a fair bit of pun potential for scenes involving breasts resting atop a saint's head, but that is a rather specific and unlikely scenario.

*Crushes piece of paper and tosses in garbage can...*
Well, another story idea shot to hell.

 

[glynndah]

*Crushes piece of paper and tosses in garbage can...*
Well, another story idea shot to hell.

You're more than welcome to the astronomical one. I won't tell.

 

[Equinoxe]

On a related note, the wonderful circular rainbow you can see when you look down at the shadow of a plane you're flying in is known to pilots as the "glory hole". It was orginally just called the "glory", but you know pilots and their wonderful sense of humour.

I see, I was aware of "glory" as an optical phenomenon, but I'm not quite sure what to say to that.

Funny, I was thinking strictly in astronomical terms, such as a halo around the moon.

Ah! It is interesting the different ways a word may be interpreted and the varying associations it brings. I am more familiar with art and iconography than I am with astronomy.

Yours is more accurate though (if I am not mistaken, in iconography an aureole is more specifically a whole body halo, whereas a nimbus is the familiar one around the head), but perhaps somewhat limited in pun potential.

 

[Guest]

*Crushes piece of paper and tosses in garbage can...*
Well, another story idea shot to hell.

You're more than welcome to the astronomical one. I won't tell.

________

Thanks.

But I just can't help but thinking, though, of this giant lactating tit over God's head...

 

[NoJo]

________

Thanks.

But I just can't help but thinking, though, of this giant lactating tit over God's head...

I don't know about a story, but Dali would have done it well.

 

[Guest]

I don't know about a story, but Dali would have done it well.

_____

I am now at peace with the universe again... knowing.

 

[glynndah]

Ah! It is interesting the different ways a word may be interpreted and the varying associations it brings. I am more familiar with art and iconography than I am with astronomy.

Yours is more accurate though

Astronomy wasn't the best word choice there. Folklore is probably a better one. Weather forecasting, superstitions, and predictions, etc. I'm rarely "more accurate" with you guys. I'll take great pride in that. (If I could figure out how to configure a sig line, quotes, avatars and all that, I'd use it * Note to self: sit down and actually read the FAQs instead of just winging it*)

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Originally Posted by ProofreadManx: "If you're a doctor, I'd suggest using areolae for the plural... if your a smut writer, I'd use areolas."

And forgo Latinate forms for Latinate words? Barbaric.

Indeed. Notwithstanding the name, P.R. Manx must be one of those philistine yanks.


(Wait a minute - I'm a philistine yank. I still like 'aureolae.')


OK, that's settled. Now, what does one call the little central part that sticks out. You know, the actual nipple itself, except that we already call the entire structure from the outermost perimeter of the aureola inwards the "nipple." (English is marvelous, but does have some gaps for smut writers. We need a smut language analogous to Eskimo, with it's 11,000 words for snow and such.)

I usually call it the "bud" or "nub" or "nubbin." Anyone have any others?