ponting means the act of posing until nearly frozen in all sorts of uncomfortable positions. It carries an Arena rating of 1379, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ponting ranks #54 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #144 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #419 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #456 of 42,752 for Qualifying.
Why “ponting” is a great word
The act of holding a photographic pose in extreme cold until one is nearly immobilized by the chill. It derives from the name of Herbert George Ponting (1870–1935), the photographer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1910–13 Antarctic expedition. Unlike general 'posing,' which suggests a brief, voluntary arrangement for the lens, or 'enduring,' which speaks to a broad, passive suffering, ponting is a specific, active submission to the cold for the sake of an image. It is the breath held until the lungs ache, the eyelashes frosting over between blinks, and the creeping numbness in a booted foot that must not shift—a small, voluntary stillness within the vast, involuntary stillness of the ice, a testament to the human will to make a record even as the body begins to resemble one.
Etymology
From the name of Herbert George Ponting, photographer on Scott's 1910-13 expedition.
noun
- the act of posing until nearly frozen in all sorts of uncomfortable positions.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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