the.com/meander
the scenic route that water takes when it's in no hurry to die in the sea
means To wander or move in a slow, winding, aimless way — whether it's a river curving across a valley or a person rambling through a conversation.
from From the Latin maeander, itself from the Greek Maiandros — the name of a famously twisty river in what is now western Turkey, whose looping bends were so notorious that the river's own name became the word for wandering.
- named river
- From Turkey's twisty Menderes River, ancient byword for wandering
- self-erasing
- Loops tighten until rivers strangle themselves into oxbow lakes
- never straight
- Even on flat ground, flowing water refuses to go direct
- greek art
- The endless key-pattern border decorating temples and togas
- migration
- Big meanders slowly crawl downstream, devouring farmland over decades
for instance
river amazon — flows 4,000 miles across south america with hundreds of oxbow loops in the rainforest
danube river bend — creates the dramatic 180-degree horseshoe bend near orsova, romania
mississippi river — forms extensive meanders in louisiana with oxbow lakes like lake concordia