|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
member
|
member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130 |
As a pug owner I always wondered where the name came from. The sources I've read mostly say "etymology uncertain". I've always thought that they were named in the West for their mushed in face. Pug from pug-faced, as in the face of a pugilist or boxer. Anyone?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I don't know where the name came from, but I believe pug-faced as a description came from the name of the dog rather than the other way round.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
why has no one mentioned the poor dachshund -- a half-a-dog short and a dog-and-a-half long?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
I wonder why Basques came to Australia and the US
As I understand it, the Basques are world-renowned sheep-herders (sounds better than a shepherd of such renown, somehow) and there are Basque communities all over the world, who either still herd sheep, or got their start in an area in that line of work. I've seen Basque restaurants in the high Nevada desert, and been surprised to see them, until I learned that there used to be lots of sheep ranching in the area.
The town where the ferry from the mainland arrives in Newfoundland is called Port-aux-Basques
I read recently that the Basques were the first Europeans to discover the rich cod-fishing grounds off of Newfoundland, and maintained a quasi-monopoly on that supply, by keeping the location a secret, for decades. I learned this in a oddly fascinating book entitled Cod: the Fish that Changed the World. It's worth reading, if for no other reason than to see people's reactions when they see you're reading a book about such an obscure subject.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
people's reactions when they see you're reading a book about such an obscure subject.In Newfoundland it is not at all an obscure subject. Since people first started coming here from Europe, the entire economy was based on cod. There's a "famous" postage stamp featuring a drawing of a codfish and the line "Newfoundland currency" or something like that. Even in the New England states it was a huge part of the economy (isn't there a Cape Cod?). (Being in oceanography and all, I can't help but know this stuff...) 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
Even in the New England states it was a huge part of the economy (isn't there a Cape Cod?)
There is in fact a Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and in the main assembly room of the Mass. State House, there is a golden cod mounted on the wall.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
There is in fact a Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and in the main assembly room of the Mass. State House, there is a golden cod mounted on the wall.
And a grasshopper is the finial atop Faneuil Hall -- the Cradle of American Liberty and headquarters of The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts.
Just for fun here is a toast popular for years with the immigrant population because it slyly poked fun at the power structure of the early 20th Century.
Raise your glasses!
"Here's to the City of Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowell's speak only to Cabots,
And the Cabots speak only to God."
wow
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
>The AKC is a registry and has no enforcement capability. (I await correction from the Dog People if I am misinfomed)
I know this isn't word related, but I'll relate it anyway. When I was about 12, my parents bred and sold boxer puppies. Basically an at home puppy mill. They had a bitch that threw white boxers, which I thought were kind of pretty. Whenever my parents put an ad in the paper that said white boxer puppies, a day or so later an ad would appear directly below warning people that the AKC did not register white boxers and saying that they should be destroyed. My mother had an attorney contact them after the third time, making noises about restraint of trade, but they kept right on doing it.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And there is a sacred weather vane of a cod over the State House.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Was it a Dalmatian?
of Faust
TEd
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,331
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
854
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
