(#1) Xmas card from Tiny Bee Cards, offered on Amazon
Lizard warnings, lizzard warnings, lizards falling from the trees.
Lizard warnings. I wrote on Facebook on 12/22:
I know these dire weather reports are announcing “blizzard warnings”, but I keep hearing “lizard warnings” and breaking into giggles. … I note that lizards come in many sizes, from the little ones we have around here in the Bay Area, to iguanas and Komodo dragons, up to Godzilla and his ilk. I giggle about all of them (as I sit in Palo Alto), but for different reasons.
Lizzard warnings. No lizard-warning signage that I’ve found, but for lizzards, we have this sign, widely distributed on the net, as here:
(#2)
And amended by Tim Evanson to incorporate Gojira / Godzilla:
(#3)
As I then noted on Facebook,
Ah, that’s a warning about transgender lizards, “lizzard” being a portmanteau of “lizard” and “Izzard” (as in Eddie Izzard).
From Wikipedia, basic information about the remarkable Eddie Izzard (read the whole entry):
Edward John Izzard (born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime.
Lizards falling from the trees. From the Daily Mail (UK) on 1/22/20:
(#4)
Great for brrr-itos! Iguana meat dubbed the ‘chicken of the trees’ is being sold online for $1 a piece after the frozen reptiles fall from Florida trees as temperatures plunge
– Nicknamed ‘chicken of the trees’, iguana meat has started popping up on Facebook Marketplace in Florida
– Sales of the meat come just hours after the weather service issued warnings of frozen reptiles falling from trees due to the harsh drop in temperatures
– The cold-blooded creatures become immobile in cold temperatures
– Iguanas that go dormant while sleeping in trees risk ‘falling from the sky’
– The UF/IFAS recommends treating the meat like chicken and cooking it through to at least 165 degrees because of the risk of salmonella
As I said to Bill Poser on Facebook about cold-stricken iguanas:
Do not bring a stunned iguana into your house to revive it; it will be seriously pissed off.
It would be helpful to move them carefully out of harm’s way (if they’re lying on roadways, sidewalks, and the like). When it gets warmer, the iguanas will walk the earth once again. But, unlike Gojira, they’re unthreateningly herbivorous; in the wild, they feed almost entirely on leaves (of trees and vines), plus some fruits and flowers.