Siamese sounds in names

February 13, 2006, 18:25

<Asa Lovejoy>

In POUPOURRI, zmjezhd mentioned the city of Walla Walla, in southern Washington state. How many other place names or animal names can you think of? There's the aye aye and the dik-dik among animals - what/where else?

February 14, 2006, 09:46

saranita

Ever eaten a pawpaw?

February 14, 2006, 12:56

Kalleh

Interesting you should mention that word, Saranita. Just today in the paper I read that they call powder snow "pawpaw." Of course, that's also my babytalk for my dog's paw.

February 14, 2006, 18:21

zmježd

There's an atl-atl, but it is neither a place nor an animal. The process is called reduplication in linguistics, and in some language it has meaning, like being the plural for some nouns.

February 14, 2006, 19:03

<Asa Lovejoy>

quote:
Originally posted by saranita:
Ever eaten a pawpaw?

Only while running from aa while wearing a muumuu in Baden Baden. (What they're doing with a Hawaiian volcanic flow I'll never know!)

February 14, 2006, 21:42

shufitz

Ha ha! Does you eat mahi-mahi in Pago Pago and wear a tutu instead of that muumuu? Or do they dare to go bare there? Hubba hubba!

February 15, 2006, 17:57

<Asa Lovejoy>

Did the Mau-Mau wear tutus during the uprising in the 1960s? Or did Desmond Tutu frown on that? Oh, wrong country.

February 15, 2006, 18:13

tinman

Mount Kaukau is in Wellington, New Zealand. The Western Gorilla is Gorilla gorilla, the Western Lowland Gorilla is Gorilla gorilla gorilla, and the Mountain Gorilla is Gorilla beringei beringei.

Tinman

February 15, 2006, 19:42

Kalleh

I wonder if the prisoners in Sing-Sing have beriberi.

February 16, 2006, 06:50

zmježd

The tsetse fly puts Homo sapiens sapiens to sleep, and Ratus ratus spreeds the bubonic plague. Tsk tsk.

February 16, 2006, 07:15

Hic et ubique

In the Pacific Battles of WWII, was there any ack-ack in Bora Bora?

February 16, 2006, 07:26

arnie

The latest chi-chi technology to have is a satellite navigation system called TomTom.

February 16, 2006, 19:02

Duncan Howell

Right off the top of my head......I believe the Pacific Sunfish is mola mola. Phew! What a relief. That thing was a ton!

February 16, 2006, 20:14

<Asa Lovejoy>

Can Chi Chi Rodriguez cha cha while fondling a French woman's bloblos?

February 17, 2006, 16:24

wordnerd

It took me a while to get your joke, Duncan. It was a real lulu.

February 22, 2006, 08:28

<Asa Lovejoy>

Can you can-can, Duncan?

February 22, 2006, 16:04

shufitz

Asa, have you been smoking funny kinnickinnick?

August 06, 2006, 16:05

tinman

Ongaonga is the name of an historical town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand. Does anyone know any more about it?

Ongaonga is also the name of Urtica ferox, a nettle that is endemic to New Zealand.

It's not quite like the stinging nettles that are abundant in many moist areas of Washington and elsewhere. This one can kill you.

Wikipedia says

quote:
Ongaonga, Urtica ferox, is a nettle that is endemic to New Zealand. Sometimes known as the 'tree nettle', ongaonga has woody stems and unusually large stinging spines, and can grow 5 metres tall. Even the lightest touch can result in a painful sting that lasts several days. It has killed at least one person who blundered into it, as well as several dogs and horses.

In Maori folklore, Kupe was said to have placed several obstacles to hinder pursuers whose wives he had stolen, one of which was the ongaonga.

Ongaonga is the main food plant for larvae of the New Zealand Red Admiral butterfly or Kahukura, Bassaris gonerilla.

Tinman