Bifkin

I had a dream last night in which I had a black pet snake (whatever - my dreams are generally process oriented, not symbolic). The pet snake, realizing I paid more attention to dogs than to snakes, grew a poodle - also black - out of its mouth until the poodle was full formed, at which point the original snake bit dropped off like a residual tail, and the poodle came to life.

Seriously creepy, even for dream me. So I called in a herpetologist who examined the poodle, listened to my story, and proclaimed my snake was a bifkin, a species of animal which would evolve to a shape where it felt it was getting optimal food and attention. After that, the next lengthy chapter of the dream was me looking extremely nervous and wondering when the bifkin was going to change into some version of me by growing a human body out of a poodle's mouth.

I'm sure the snake dream is a result of reading The Red Queen book about evolutionary pressure and parasites. But bifkin? I had to look it up. It's a synonym...for perineum. I don't believe I've ever consciously heard or read the word before. But now my dream has educated me with a new word for taint that was previously outside my vocabulary. I think the instructor who told Ming and I to open a dictionary more often would be proud.

perineum /peri·ne·um/ (-ne´um)

1. the pelvic floor and associated structures occupying the pelvic outlet, bounded anteriorly by the pubic symphysis, laterally by the ischial tuberosities, and posteriorly by the coccyx.

2. the region between the thighs, bounded in the male by the scrotum and anus and in the female by the vulva and anus.