The past few days here have been gorgeous . . . and I guess I could take some pictures and post them, but . . . I'm too lazy. Would rather go out and enjoy it!
Work is busy, but I think I might be getting caught up . . . or maybe that just means I forgot to put something on my "to-do" list!! Ha!
I studied my placename list yesterday and by the end of the evening, my head was spinning. My first goal was to try to come up with a classification system for the names. But as I sat looking at the names, I realized again (after not really spending a lot of time with this list in the past year) that there were duplicates. So, I decided to get rid of duplicates. For instance, one name (Kurutiq) shows up three times as #20, #41, and #106. It really is only one place. This list has been worked on by various people over the past 4+ years, by different people, and one thing that happened is that when someone remembered a name, they tended to add it to the list without consulting the first part of the list. So, there are several instances of that. I also had to consider slight changes in spellings and make some judgments as to whether or not it was really the same name or a different name.
Then, there's the cases where one name is used for two different places. King Island is roughly triangular. The village is in roughly themiddle of the south or bottom side of the triangle. Near the two corners are two places that are both called "Uivayaq", which means "coming into view". They are named such because as the boats round the corners from the sides of the island, the village eventually "comes into view".
So, in trying to come up with a total number of names, I had to eliminate duplicates first. Then, I had to decide whether I count "Uivayaq" as two separate names or one . . . what do you think? Then, do you count a place that has what is called a "topographic generic". For instance, the main fresh water source for the village was a place named "Kuuk", which is the general word for "creek". They often use it as a formal placename - like calling a river, "River". So, do you count that as a discrete name since it specifically refers to only one place? Or, not?
Anyway, I stayed up late looking at this list. It was kinda fun and also interesting, but a bit confusing because I often couldn't remember what I'd decided about something ... I'm trying to write an article related to the total number of names on the island, so having a somewhat accurate count is important. Just wish I had more time to really delve into it!!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Beautiful Fall Days
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3 comments:
That sounds very interesting Dee.
By the way, my cosmetic case is really for my meds but the embarrassing part is my nicotine gum since I stopped smoking in 2001. My daughter saw my post and said, I bet the embarrassing thing is your nicotine gum. She knows me too well. She noticed that I didn't have any of that when I dumped out my bag and figured it was in the case.
You sound so happy these days! Glad that work is interesting and that the health news has been good. I am a little overwhelmed by your work to-do list and do hope that you remember to take care of yourself. ;-)
Hi Carver,
Thanks for telling me what was in your cosmetics case - I really was curious, but I was mostly just trying to joke around with you a little bit on your blog. I become much more curious when someone tells me that they don't want to share something .. . I guess what I'm saying is that you really didn't have to tell me. I was just joshin'!!
Hi Laurie,
I hope your Canadian Thanksgiving celebration was great fun - a cabin with a houseful of people is always something to look forward to. I think you said that you were having a treatment day, too, and I hope that you're doing okay with it all. Yes, my work to-do list was overwhelming, but that stems, in part, because of this upcoming trip. It's partly my own fault, too, for not being able to say NO! Still working on that. It feels kinda good to be busy again ... and to have a sense that this part of my life, which had been put on hold for several months, is going forward again. I hope to hell it all settles down again upon my return. And, I do try to take care of myself - I have a weekly qi gong class and I try to do a little meditation and/or deep breathing and stretching every day. Scott and my dad are really good about telling me to slow down and take it easy, too. Anyway, take care yourself, okay? :-)
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