Hi to everybody...just watched a bit of the prog on BBC4 on Cook's voyage to Australia...when he discovered and named Botany Bay, he saw some animals and asked the indigenous people of the area what they were called, they answered in their language 'I dunno'. Cook heard their answer and the animal was called a Kangaroo from then on which literally means...'I dunno' but he didn't know at the time that's what their answer had been...HLOL...
Great big hugs...XXX
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playwrite27
- http://davidtennantsdoctor.wordpress.com/
- 23.07.2008 @ 03:07:24
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jenray
Pro - http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- 23.07.2008 @ 11:46:16
Have a good day, Nancy...GBHs and a loads of love...XXX
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Captain_Autumn
- 23.07.2008 @ 11:10:12
Prepare to unlearn that and learn something else - pleasing a story as it is, it's a myth, I'm afraid. Kangaroo was just a word from the local Guugu-Yimidhirr language which was simply the name of the now rarely seen large black species. Unfortunately the apocryphal story has gathered such mileage that now even reputable channels like BBC4 are repeating it!
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- 23.07.2008 @ 11:48:18
It was an aborigine guy who told it to the presenter of the programme so he should know whether or not it was true...LOL...GBHs....
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Captain_Autumn
- 23.07.2008 @ 12:28:48
He should know why? He probably knows as little about the etymology of the language of 1770 in Australia as you or I know about the etymology of the language of 1770 in England. More to the point he's probably used to telling foreign journalists what they want to hear! Cook's journals of the time include a word list from the Guugu-Yimidhirr language, one of which is gangurru, which meant not "I don't know" but was the name of a particular species of kangaroo. Check the second answer here http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_236.html for further detail. Alternatively believe the myth, whichever you prefer!
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jenray
Pro
- http://www.jenniferhunter.co.uk
- 23.07.2008 @ 12:57:00
I liked the myth...HLOL...now you've spoiled it...darn it...GBHs...
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Ha-ha! All this time when we're saying "kangaroo," we're really saying "I don't know?"
I imagine George Bush must say "kangaroo," a lot. Okay, I'm just being silly. Hope you had a great day, hun. (big hug).