Thagomizers

Rico says his friend Kelley, an equally avid word freak, sends this:

I am writing to tell you that I got a new Dinosaur DVD today at Walmart. I was much tickled to discover that the tail spikes on a Stegosaurus is referred to as a "thagomizer". I thought 'here's something that Rico can play with". On a hunch, I decided to google it to be sure of the spelling. Very high on the search list was Gary Larson/Far Side. Click on that, and the first cartoon (photo) is a cave man giving a slide show to the tribe. On screen is a Stego-butt-end. He says: 'In the future be very careful with the thagomizer, named for the late Thag Simmons." Clicking onward, it seems Larson really tickled the palaeontologist's funny bone and they've adopted the term, as there was none before.