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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I wonder how closely related the North American and Australian opossums are? My dictionary says that they are "similar." It also says that the word is Virginian Algonquian. Have you other American Indian words in New Zealand?
There is a terrific children's book, the name of the author escapes me at the moment, called Possum Come A-Knockin'. Written in verse, it exhibits a wonderful sense of rhythm, infused with humor. I can't encounter a possum any more without thinking, "possum come a-knockin' at the door, at the door; possum come a-knockin' at the door."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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wapiti". Now THERE'S a cool word I haven't heard recently.
Wapiti were introduced to NZ around the beginning of the 20th century, and were hunted out of existence by around 1950. There may be a few left, some guy down South is on a Grail-quest for them. What brought a smile to face on seeing the word "wapiti" written out was its similarity to "rapiti" - a Maori transliteration of rabbit used in an old kid's song here. There used to be many of such transliterations in Maori, but now there is an effort being made to either modify existing maori words, or coin new ones. So, while Queen Victoria is still Kuini Wikitoria, the Maori Queen is "Te Arikinui" - the big chief, the highest of the highborn. Aeroplane has been translated as "sky canoe", that's one of my favourites, and it's been a long time since I've heard anyone mention that kotanga is the Maori word for car aerial.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Elk and moose are in the same family, but there's no mistaking one for the other, even at a distance (unless the light is very poor).
Elk are smaller overall in size, though a large bull elk probably is close to the size of a moose cow. But the shapes are easily distinguishable. Elk essentially look like large deer, but broader in the shoulders and with bigger and different-shaped racks. Moose, now...moose look
like they were put together in some grand drunken fantasy.
Their shape is like no other animal's. Their shoulders are
over-wide in proportion to the rest of their bodies, they have a wattle, and their ears are comically large and tend to flap out to the sides. They have huge, spatulate antlers, not slim and pointy like deer and elk (wapiti is the Indian name, but I don't know which tribe). There are some low mountains in Wyoming called the Wapiti Range, at least by the locals.
Speaking of local-speak: could you phoneticize for us the local prounciation of Newfoundland, please? I've heard it as something like Nfnln.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bean asks: what's the difference between a moose and an elk?
An elk is a deer on steroids. A moose is a deer on steroids drawn with a crayon.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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We pronounce our Newfoundland, "Jeffrey." [joke falling flat because no one here knows we have a Newfoundland dog named Jeffrey emoticon]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>An elk is a deer on steroids. A moose is a deer on steroids drawn with a crayon.
which explains why a moose looks more like a cartoon character than it looks like a deer. (cf. Bullwinkle)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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and it's been a long time since I've heard anyone mention that kotanga is the Maori word for car aerial.O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-h! [agony-mixed-with-mirth emoticon] Now Max, you are just going to have to explain that one! Unless, of course, it was a trap laid for moi which moi has just fallen into up his neck. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Unless, of course, it was a trap laid for moi which moi has just fallen into up his neck. Put simply, it was intended as a trap for you, mon ami, but I was delighted that at least one other person got the joke. This is the text of a private message I received today, unedited, but without reference to the identity of the sender: kotanga is the Maori word for car aerial"
Thanks for my best laugh of the day, Max. It sounds like the Maori are intimately acquainted with my history of car ownership. My car repair kit used to consist of a hammer and duct tape.As my 5th form English teacher was fond of saying: Quite Enough Done. 
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
The best I can manage would be "noofn-LAND" when used as a noun, and "NOO-fnland" when used as an adjective. That is, I live in "noofn-LAND", and Sparteye has a "NOO-fnland" puppy. It is absolutely NOT, NEVER, EVER, "noo-FOUND-lnd". (I had an Ontario friend who couldn't get past that.) And, I appreciate the numbers of NZ sheep (I've actually read it somewhere before) but I think the sheep are there on purpose. Aren't they kept in fields, behind fences? I also think they're unlikely to kill you if you hit one with your car. The oppossums - well, that's a bit much. But let's not go into the number of mosquitoes in Manitoba during the summer! The moose, however, are just plain everywhere. They do taste very, very good! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the identity of the senderGot to be Rhuby! And thanks Max, simply the best!
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