Pronounced [At-tee-fou] noun.
A temporary lapse in awareness when one is going to sleep. Usually feels like one has jumped from a height and is typified with movement of the lower body into a tense, bracing position. It is thought to be an evolutionary development to stop creatures falling out of trees by reminding them that they are in a tree just before they sleep.
Derived from the word 'at' - to be at a place, and 'fooea' - a temporary lapse in concentration.
I have come back to this post three times now and it still makes me laugh, it is the thought of that bird falling out of the tree that does it. Good word and meaning Jessie.
ReplyDeleteHope your knitting club at the museum is fun tonight...and PLEASE do not catch swine flu, can you go away on expedition somewhere remote for the duration. It sounds like you entire museum is at high alert with 2 or is it 3 cases already?
Get a load of its talons - I keep having to re-look at the picture to check I remembered them correctly! Obviously this owl has a lot of atifoo moments and therefore keeps his claws nice and long - just in case.
ReplyDeleteIts actually called a Hypnagogic Myoclonic Twitch! I think Atifoo is easier to understand and say... don't you?!
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