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homo sapiens = "thinking man".
but homo means self or same. so it's self aware or self thinking, not thinking man.
other examples of homo: homogenous doesn't have anything to do with being men, it has to do with being made of the same material throughout. homosexual one who likes people of the same sex, not one who likes men, because women can be homosexual too.
so doesn't homo sapiens sapiens indicate awareness of one's self awareness rather than a man who thinks he can think? you don't get "men" until you define the phrase, so you can't use "men" in the definition.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't really see how a hippo looks much like a horse. Maybe a horse with a weight disorder, I guess. . .
Is anyone able to cite me to a humorous poem I partly recall, the plaint of a young lad bemoaning the loss of his beloved pet hippopotamus?
The lines I recall are that the lad nursed had his pet through "his hippopotameasles and his hippopotamumps," and that, "No longer in the morning will the neighborhood rejoice / To his hippopotamusically modulated voice."
Thanks in advance.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't really see how a hippo looks much like a horse. Maybe a horse with a weight disorder, I guess.
I vaguely recall that in ancient egyptian times and as late as the the classical greek era, there was a smaller species of hippopotamus, now extinct, indigenous to Egypt and parts of the middle east. Can anyone confirm or deny? Does the Bible include any references to hippopotami? (I know, ICLIU)
A bit of Ogden Nash:
We mock the hippopotamus
Because of how he looks to us,
But often, in a moment grim
I wonder how we look to him.
Peace! Peace! thou hippopotamus!
We really look al right to us,
As you, no doubt, delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.
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old hand
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old hand
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HOMO= (latin) MAN
SAPIENS= (latin) WISE
SAPIENS= (latin) WISE
Everyone knows that the latins were sexist pigs, but at least they were open about it. What, I ask, is the excuse of the men who designated peoplekind as homo sapiens sapiens? Well, let it be known that there are a lot of women who are wise and a select few that have a sence of humor.
Milo
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Carpal Tunnel
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homo- = man (Latin)
homo- = same (Greek)
what we have here is an old-fashioned logomachy! and may the better homo- win.
(perhaps that genius should have gone for Homo sapiens homo)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Stales--you're quick; I like that!  Keiva:
I Had a Hippopotamus
I had a hippopotamus; I kept him in a shed
And fed him upon vitamins and vegetable bread.
I made him my companion on many cheery walks,
And had his portrait done by a celebrity in chalks.
His charming eccentricities were known on every side.
The creature's popularity was wonderfully wide.
He frolicked with the Rector in a dozen friendly tussles,
Who could not but remark on his hippopotamuscles.
If he should be affected by depression or the dumps
By hippopotameasles or hippopotamumps
I never knew a particle of peace 'till it was plain
He was hippopotamasticating properly again.
I had a hippopotamus, I loved him as a friend
But beautiful relationships are bound to end.
Time takes, alas, our joys from us and robs us of our blisses.
My hippopotamus turned out to be a hippopotamissus.
My housekeeper regarded him with jaundice in her eye.
She did not want a colony of hippopotami.
She borrowed a machine gun from her soldier-nephew, Percy
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
My house now lacks the glamour that the charming creature gave.
The garage where I kept him is as silent as a grave.
No longer he displays among the motor-tires and spanners
His hippopotamastery of hippopotamanners.
I had a hippopotamus, but nothing upon the earth
Is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth.
No life that's joyful can be strong enough to smother
My sorrow for what might have been a hippopotamother.
--Patrick Barrington
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The version I found had one additional verse: My house now lacks the glamour that the charming creature gave, The garage where I kept him is as silent as the grave; No longer he displays among the motor-tires and spanners His hippopotamastery of hippopotamanners. No longer now he gambols in the orchard in the Spring;
No longer do I lead him through the village on a string;
No longer in the mornings does the neighborhood rejoice
To his hippopotamusically-modulated voice. I had a hippopotamus; but nothing upon earth Is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth. No joy that life can give me can be strong enough to smother My sorrow for that might-have-been-a-hippopotamother. +++++++++++++++++++ I found it on this page: http://members.aol.com/HippoPage/hipppoem.htm
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thank you, m'ladies. You have made me .
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stranger
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In fact, the translation of Latin homo- as 'man' reveals more about the sexism of English speakers than Latin speakers. In Latin, homo (genitive hominis) meant 'human' rather than 'male', so the translation 'man' is the generic sense of the English word. More accurately, the etymology of Latin homo would mean 'earthling' -- from the Indo-European locative form of the word for 'earth': *dhghom-on- 'the one on the earth', in contrast with *deyw-os 'the one in the sky' = deus 'god'.
Other words from this same Indo-European root *dhghem- 'earth' include chthonic, chameleon ('lion of the ground') from Greek; Latin humus 'earth'; and Old English guma 'human' which survives today only in altered form in the word 'bride-groom' (originally 'bride-goom').
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Cool, rbarr, and welcome. I'm looking forward to discussions between you and Nicholas, our resident linguistic expert. I hope to see him back here very soon indeed.
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