G'day freda, (freda underhill - PM Date: 05 Feb 11 - 12:16 AM)

This Irish attempt to invent a 'spud-irish' "origin" for the Australianism "Didgeridoo" splashed through the MudCat waters a few years back. I pointed out that the Huon Times article was the earliest printed source and hadn't claimed the word as Aboriginal ... or as the "name" of the istrument ... but referred to it as the sound of the instrument (played, not by Aborigines, but by ~ Malay sailors on a sailing vessel moored nearby the shed from which the Huon Times was published!

(Incidentally, for those who claim that bamboo didges are a modern corruption ... those described in the paper - the first known reference ... were bamboo ...)!

Regards,

Bob