Tail (n)  the hindmost part of an animal or an object such as a plane

Tale (n)  a fictitious or true story told creatively with flourishes

Am I the only one who when I hear the word tail, automatically thinks of an excited, wiggling little puppy, wagging his whole behind?  It is an instantly joyful moment!  Happy tails are easy to spot.  If you’ve ever been around cats, they have unique tails which are often described as either a question mark, ones that are held with a bit of a curve, or exclamation marks, ones that are held straight up.  The supposed interpretation is, the curve indicates curiosity or longing to interact.  A straight tail alludes to alertness or possible agitation.  In all my years as a cat owner, my friendliest cats had the question mark tail; the more uptight cats had the exclamation point.  It was a visible warning to approach with caution.

Tails on most animals do seem to be a clear expression of their temperament.  While visiting an animal sanctuary or zoo, it’s easy to observe the contentment or tension of the critters by watching tail movement.  Too bad the human race doesn’t have such a visible indicator of moods!

Tail also refers to someone being followed closely.  On our roads, it is not something looked kindly upon.  Besides being dangerous, it is considered blatant antagonism; not something you want to respond to.  Best to move over or lose the tailgater.  Wait!  There’s another Word Well Wednesday possibility!  Tailgater.  I like the game day connotation much better than the road-rage version, but we’ll leave that one for another post.

Tales have long been told by storytellers who like to embellish.  Think of sportsmen or women who love to fish.  The catch of the day always seems to grow with each telling of the fishing adventure!  As children, fairytales have been a bedtime tradition long before Disney came on the scene.  Stories of adventure and fantastical creatures are only limited by the constraints of our imagination.

One of the best tales I’ve enjoyed is one that includes lots of tail wagging, Marley and Me by John Grogan.  Do you have a favorite tale?  Feel free to share the title in Comments.