Happy Pi Day, my dears! As we do every Pi Day, Mordecai and I started the day with Pimm’s Cups and raspberry tarts (or mini-pies, if you will).
Whilst soaking in the sunshine and the warm weather snap in the garden, we noticed a corner of my soon-to-be green bean plot undulating. If was not a patch of magic earth, sadly, but instead a group of dancing efts.
An eft is a newt. Specifically, a newt in its terrestrial phase. Eft can refer to any immature newt, the terrestrial form of a primarily aquatic newt, or to the primarily North American reddish-orange Notophthalmus viridescens as well as the Southeastern North American Diemictylus viridescens (the red eft).
Eft comes to us from the Middle English evete, ewte, which in turn is from the Old English efete.
Of course, if you’d like to be truly archaic, eft can be used as an adverb meaning again or afterwards.
Eft has also become an acronym in modern times, meaning either Electronic Financial Transfer or Emotional Freedom Techniques. But if someone yells to you “Look! A red eft!” they are not referring to money or a psychological acupuncture technique.
They are referring to a newt.
Mordecai and I offered our brace of efts bits of raspberry tart and filled some leaves with Pimm’s Cups. They soon began doing what I can only assume is a Pi Day Dance. Which is about 3.14159265 times more undulating than a normal newt dance.
I’m sure Bubo’s appearance had nothing to do with the fervor.
