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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
GOT IT! Mogambo is Swahili for "big gorilla". (And, wouldn't you know, I plugged it into a web dictionary for Swahili and it came up no match!!) Ok, here's how I got this info.-- I called our library's trusty Just Ask line. This is what the lady told me. I daren't take the time to go here myself, so I hope I got this right. Go to http://www.imdb.com. Type in the title of the movie. Go to external links miscellaneous, then classic movies. 'Fraid she lost me after that, but I'm sure you can figure it out.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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But then there's:
http://www.kalinlures.com/mogambo.htm
Brrrrr!
Enough to put you off your grub, Eh?
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Joined: Oct 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
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Enough to put you off your grub, Eh?Burble! Splutter splutter, slap slap! (these are highly appreciative fish noises) 
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Joined: Oct 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
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Well done, Jackie! Does tsuwm work for your library's Just Ask line, then? Here's the place you end up: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/8255/filmog/film3.htmlMind you, all it says is exactly the same as Jackie's second sentence. Could this be one of those cases where the word doesn't relate exclusively to one situation? e.g: Somebody who speaks Swahili sees a big gorilla coming out of the bushes and screams "Mogambo!!!" - everybody who understands Swahili runs away. A bit further into the jungle, the group sights the grisly remains of a cannibal banquet. "Mogambo!!!" says one Swahili speaker to another, and they make themselves scarce. The sole remaining white man assumes that a big gorilla was responsible for the bloody mess around, and decides he'd better shoot the mogambo when he next gets the chance. And anyway, there's that little space on his mantelpiece, and normal ashtrays are so boring... 
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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By your theory, then, 'Mogambo' might just mean "Let's get the f@$% out of here!"
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Reaching far back into the custard of my memory, I recall a book by (I think) R.M.Ballantyne, that fine writer of spiffing yarns, called The Gorilla Hunters which employed the same characters who had appeared in The Coral Island. In this yarn, which upheld all of the undoubted virtues of The British Empire, Gorillas were referred to, familiarly, as "puggies."
Any ideas where this word could have come from?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well done, Jackie! Does tsuwm work for your library's Just Ask line, then?
Thank you, dear! I kind of doubt that he does--it's pretty
long distance to the winterlands. 'Sides, it seems that he has several thousand web sites memorized--he IS a just-ask
line! 'Ceptin' he always tells you to "look it up', grumble, mumble...
I don't really mind looking it up--IF I know where to look!
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>Ceptin' he always tells you to "look it up', grumble, mumble... IF I know where to look!
grumble, mumble indeed. let the record show that I have posted more links than a dozen discalced nuns.
::hmmmph::
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
grumble, mumble indeed. let the record show that I have posted more links than a dozen discalced nuns.
::hmmmph::Ok, Mr. Grumble  , so I'm lazy! But what does being discalced have to do with posting links, she said with the distinct feeling of walking straight into a trap?
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I cannot find any Swahili word meaning gorilla. I did learn that the Swahili word for monkey is tumbili or tumbiri or kima, and the word for baboon is nyani (and for "big" baboon nyani mkubwa) and the word for Colobus monkey is mbega, and the word for chimp is sokwe, and the word for small black monkey is ngedere ... none of which has jack squat to do with gorillas or mogambo. The time spent was justified entirely by learning that "Wapi choo?" in Swahili means "Where is the bathroom?" Research continues as the hope of success dwindles.
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