Nephelococcygia

· by · in Photography. ·

– Look, it’s a monkey!
– Come on, it’s a squirrel eating an apple…
– Oh! Isn’t that the map of Africa?
– Ummm..okay..it seems so….

You can resonate with such a conversation if you ever have enjoyed the hobby of watching and finding shapes in the clouds above. Perhaps, it is the cheapest hobby humankind has ever invented. I used to enjoy it a lot as a child. Even I found out a few years back, that, the hobby has a name as well. It’s called Nephelococcygia. Yes, yes, I know it sounds a bit difficult and, you are supposed to see a poker-face if you ever ask anyone if they have any interest in nephelococcygia, but, well….that’s that.

1-sky1-pujooo 2015 3381-pujooo 2015 4391-North Bengal 033

106 responses to “Nephelococcygia”

  1. Pingback: When The Sky Looks Menacing! | Scattered Thoughts·

  11. Maniparna Di, i have the habit to some extent but i did now know the name, good to her that its also has a name. but i will not be able to ask anyone about it mentioning the name because ….only my tongue and lips will move and the listener will understand nothing…..whats the pronunciation?

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  18. Have always loved, admired, cherished those wanderers of land thither – nothing but change remains constant – this is the first thing I learnt from clouds.
    Never did I venture to check whether this is considered a hobby, leave apart the name part of it! Thanks a lot indeed!

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  20. Such a wonderful pastime, just letting the imagination play with the clouds and whiling away some time just doing nothing but relaxing. It’s a noble hobby.

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  24. We sometimes played the game of looking for shapes in clouds, but we never had a special name for it. In the picture with your post, I saw a squirrel eating a map of Africa and a monkey using an Apple to send email. 🙂

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  33. Definitely a tongue twister and a word I’ve not come across before. Cloud watching – hmm definitely far cheaper than the entertainment we have to pay for these days for our children😀

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  41. I never actually did much of that myself but my mom used to do it a lot!! 😀 And you for sharing the term, I’ll let her know it got a legit name 🙂
    And those are some beautiful shots!! 😀

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  42. Your nephelococcygia took me all the way to my childhood days, Mani, when one of the favourite pastimes used to be running around seashore and counting waves in the order of their magnitude; thus we ended up arriving at x number of big waves, y mediums and z small ones, and later comparing notes with our counterparts positioned at different places alongside the beach. The one who sighted the largest number of big waves was considered the winner. There was an innocent sense of fair play in this gaming so no one thought of fudging figures. I wonder if there is a word for it; may be ‘wavococcygia’, ‘wavostics’, ‘wavophilia’ are good candidates…

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    • Counting waves…yes…have tried it a few times when we were on a trip to some seabeach. Indeed, so many sweet experiences and memories are there in our childhood. 🙂

      “‘wavococcygia’” sounds great … 😀

      Thank you so much for sharing such a sweet memory… 🙂

      Like

  44. Thanks Maniparna…You revived the memories. We, as kids, used to lie down in the park and identify various shapes. Wonder, it has a name and a difficult one. I do the same with my Kid now.

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  47. I love looking and daydreaming about clouds and the sky, Maniparna! The best way to do this is to have a blanket and lie down watching all the different ones, changes over time. So much fun to heat children’s imagination at work! 🙂 You presented us with gorgeous examples of the ecrrchanging clouds! ❤

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  48. Wow! You research things I can’t even pronounce! 😀

    During my brief childhood, my grandfather cultivated this hobby in me. We used to lie on our terrace in Benaras, with cool summer breeze from the mangroves regaling us and tried to make sense of those cosmic caricatures! It was fun!

    I’ve always been mesmerized by clouds, overcast skies, stormy winds, torrential rains… in short, all the nature’s extreme eccentricities. Loved those photographs! Wish I was there!

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    • Haha. It happened like that, someone inquired in an online community as whether this hobby has any name. I googled and bumped into this BIG word..:-D

      “Cosmic caricatures”..wow! That’s a great phrase…loved it. Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences… 🙂

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