On May 9, 2005, at 7:08 PM, Warren Ockrassa wrote:
On May 9, 2005, at 5:56 PM, Dave Land wrote:
On May 9, 2005, at 5:40 PM, David Brin wrote:
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Don't even think about asking a Galactic about giving someone the finger .
I am reminded of the fact that about 10% of US place names mean the same thing in some local native American dialect.
Minnesota, Mississippi, Wyoming, Delaware... they all mean the same thing, in various tribal tongues.
"It's your FINGER, you paleface fool."
I'm reluctant to believe this story.
Minnesota -- Sioux for "cloudy water".
<http://www.bartleby.com/61/90/M0319000.html>
Mississippi -- Ojibwa, possibly; "big river".
<http://www.bartleby.com/61/35/M0343500.html>
Wyoming -- From the Delaware (!) indians, meaning "rivers and mountains alternating".
<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html>
Delaware -- Named after the river, by a baron De la Warr.
<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html>
See, Warren, you and I are not *paying attention* or we would have known that Dr. B. was just joking. Or maybe he fell for someone else's bad research, which could potentially happen.
I stand by my assertion that this is a "rural legend" the likes of the Eskimo's many words for snow.
Dave
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