Listening to the mourning doves singing in the rain this evening made me think of that famous song by Prince, “When Doves Cry.” As I mentally replayed the song in my head, I paused at this line from the lyrics:
And the most strikerious poses.
Hold on. What does “strikerious” mean? Surely that’s not a word?
I didn’t dare assume anything, because you just never know. Case in point: a recent study of the lyrics from Steve Miller’s “The Joker” proved that sometimes what sounds like nonsense really is. I always thought he sang “the pompatus of love,” which didn’t make the least bit of sense, and it turns out that’s exactly what he sang (and it still doesn’t make any sense).
But what Prince sang, according to Internet sources, was this:
Animals strike curious poses.
That makes sense, too much sense to be doubted, and so I strike “strikerious” from my mental database and say good-bye to a rather interesting word that wasn’t meant to be.