BS: Every Wonder?

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 10:08 PM

So some males do lactate?!? I'd never heard that before - thanks! I say more of 'em need to try it. This world might become a more nurturing place! Wish I'd have known that when I had my twins - four nipples would have been better than two at those 1am feedings ... and 4am feedings ... and 7am feedings ...

And those dogs, well they just have it made now don't they Ebbie?

Mudlark, I'll attempt to respond to your comments re 'Hanta Yo'.

The author says that "The American Indian, even before Columbus, was the remnant of a very old race in it's final stage, a race that had attained perhaps the highest working concept of individualism ever practiced.    Neither the word 'free' nor any corresponding term appears in the root language, in the primal concept: there was never anything for the Indian to free himself from. His was the mind not seeking truth but holding onto truth. And his was the mind nurtured on choice. Whatever he needed to know, nature sooner or later revealed to him. And that which he desired to know - the best way to achieve his maximum spiritual potential - was the only mystery he chose to investigate".

Perhaps that explains the absence of the word 'how'! And I think using 'how' as a greeting was a Hollywood practice...

About the absence of the words/concepts "us" and "them" and "we" - I think this was because their world-view was totally individualistic. Hill says "But the rhetorical was the only form of questioning the Indians used; he never answered to anyone but himself, never answered for anyone but himself. He conjugates the verb 'think' in the first person singular only; he never presumes... His language is rich in expression of relationships but lacks the relative pronoun and the neuter 'it'. 'He' and 'she' were incorporated with other parts of speech. 'I', the sacred word; 'I and you' if and when an affinity is determined. His was the language of the ego, cultivated in the idiom of the premise by which he lived".

What you said about their inability to sign treaties if they had no concept of a 'promise' is entirely correct. The intent behind the treaties was incomprehensible to them - that's why they ended up signing such ridiculous agreements as trading the whole of what is now New York State for a few blankets and trinkets. The notion of 'treaty' was totally foreign, as was the notion that anyone could 'own' the earth in the first place. They really didn't understand what they were being asked to do at all - they thought the treaties were a sign of goodwill and safe passage through their homeland. It's a wonder the courts, knowing that today, still consider the treaties valid at all!

Also, if a culture had no concept of 'guilt' (because they could never 'presume' or 'assume' or 'expect' anything of another person) then they certainly didn't need 'forgiveness' or 'mercy' either. Minds nourished on individual freedom of choice have no room for the limiting 'should' or 'expect'.

I remember thinking when I first read that surprising list that it sounded like a list of words the natives would have first encountered as they were being arrested and tried in front of the whiteman's courts of law, military or otherwise. Another social institution totally foreign to them ...

I do find these differences amazing ... and thanks for your response!

daylia

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 08:00 PM

Speaking of mammary glands on the male of various species...

One day my young daughter was playing with our dog. She called to me in the next room: ' Mommy! Rennie has a tick!' Well, ticks are not unheard of even on the west coast, so I said, 'I'll be there in a minute. I'll take care of it.' A minute later she said, 'Here's another one! And here's another one!'

I said, 'Kelly, are they in a row?' She said, uncertainly, 'Yes?'

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: harpgirl
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 03:11 PM

...yeah Mario, they have you under survelliance right now because of your mammarian lactation potential! Just ask GUEST!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Mudlark
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 02:47 PM

Daylia...that's an interesting set of words but I find it difficult to believe some of them. From everything cultural anthropolical I've ever read the concept of "us" (and "them"), "we" (and you...other) is universal. Without "doubt" it seems survival of the fitest would degenerate into survival of the dumb lucky. If the word "promise" didn't exist, what meaning would treaties, and the breaking of them, have? Without the concept of "how"...how is one to question the world. Surely the Sioux had a few questions in their heads. (lol..besides, I thot "how" was the universal Indian greeting.) On the other hand, tho I'd hate to live in a society that couldn't conceive of mercy or forgiveness, I'd love to try one that had no shoulds or guilt.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: MMario
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 02:33 PM

male lactation is a not uncommon phenomenan.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Beccy
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 02:30 PM

daylia... Regarding your why do men have nipples question...did you know there was a news story about a man lactating in November 2002? I must admit, if any guy I knew started lactating, I'd think I was in a parallel and VERY freaky universe. I only have enough nursing pads for myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 12:47 PM

Burl, can you be sure the pocket smells any better?

Nigel, makes sense, I say, grudgingly. I assume that animals' heads also differ? People's two sides are so strikingly dissimilar- I remember that when I was a kid, my left eye I called my 'friendly' eye; the other was more aloof. (Now that does sound weird. But I was a weird kid. Luckily, I completely outgrew that trait.)

To continue:

Ever wonder why we don't have three hands? Two to hold something in place, one to do the work.

Ever wonder why we can't lift the head from the erect neck and lay it on the shoulders facing up? It would be so much easier to paint a ceiling.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 12:29 PM

OK, on a more serious note here's something I've always wondered about from one of my favorite books - "Hanta Yo - An American Saga" by American linguist and anthropologist Ruth Beebe Hill.

"Hanta Yo" means 'Clear the Way!', and the book is described as having done just that, clearing the way into "understanding the intimate lives and thoughts of the Teton Sioux. It is based upon an actual Mahto document discovered in 1865. It is the culmination of 25 years of research by it's author assisted by a full-blooded Dakotah Sioux who helped her achieve the translation...".

Anyway, here's one quote I find fascinating:

"Admit, assume, because, believe, could, doubt, end, expect, faith, free, forget, forgive, guilt, how, it, mercy, pest, promise, should, sorry, them, us, waste, we, weed - neither these words nor the conceptions for which they stand appear in this book; they are the whiteman's contribution to the vocabulary of the man he called Indian. Truly, the parent Indian families possessed neither these terms nor their equivalents".

What I wonder about is how much different life would be if these words and the conceptions they stand for were still "inconceivable" to our minds, our culture today? The possibilities just boggle the mind ... for me anyway!

daylia

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 12:15 PM

Actually, Carol, the dog food flavor that would really drive dogs wild would be human crotch flavored. But it's probably not a really good idea. Sniffing's one thing, but we don't need to get them in the habit of biting/eating anything that smells like....

And as for mouse flavored cat food, most cats wouldn't really eat it. They'd play with it until it didn't move any more and then leave it under the bed to rot.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 12:06 PM

I'd like to know why it is that so many people don't seem to have the sense/manners to KNOCK on a closed door that is between them and a toilet, especially considering that so many public restrooms don't have functional locks.

I'd also like to know why it is that I'd want to take an allergy medicine whose side effects might include headache, sore throat, nosebleeds, and colds. Don't people take allergy medicine to get rid of those things?

And why hasn't dentistry evolved to the point where they can clean your teeth with something other than a sharp pointed hook?

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:44 AM

Ebbie: the two sides of the head are not symetrical because this is also true of the rest of the body.
The body's cavities would need a complete re-design to encompas a heart which was central, and which had its major vein and artery (assuming still only one of each) entering/exiting centrally.
The intestines could not be fitted in as well unless there were two identical intestines (one turning left and folding, the other turning right and folding).
Duplication of internal organs such as intestines, veins, arteries etc., would lead to a possible back-up of material inside the body. Say e.g. one intestine provides a little more pressure, the waste material if not expressed would be forced back up the other intestine.
Blood flow would be complicated, and blood pressure would need to be equal in both complementary systems to avoid a flow reversal on one side.

Just some idle meanderings!

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:32 AM

Hrothgar, The nose should be on the end of the thumb so that if you walk past a bad smell you can put your hand in your pocket. The mouth should be on the top of the head so that if you are late for work you can put your breakfast in your hat and eat it on the way there. Burl.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:21 AM

Egads harpgirl! Show me the door quick! ... to the NEXT universe!

Right on MMario - but every other body part seems to have a function! Are men's nipples just so that they don't 'look funny'? Or are they just a useless product of that X chromosome we all have? Hmmmmmmmmm

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: harpgirl
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM

oh that's easy...after the CIA kills all the women with smallpox, they plan on forcing men to have babies which will turn into a super race and take over the universe!

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: MMario
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM

be more surprising if they didn't...what men don't have is the fatty deposits comprising the breasts. Males also have mammary glands - just not normally functional ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:05 AM

Ever wonder why men have

?*? nipples ?*?

I always thought if I could figure that one out I'd have solved one of the BIG mysteries of life ...

Maybe it's related to the age-old questions "Do snakes have armpits? Do chickens have lips???"

Sorry, must be too early in the morning ...

:-) daylia

PS but why DO men have nipples????

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 03:38 AM

Gee, Ebbie, how would you be with a nose on the back of your head?

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:35 AM

Ever wonder:

Why the two sides of a human head are not alike? I've read the explanations- and I still don't understand. Since growth is a matter of cells splitting- in such small increments- why don't they follow an individual plan? And is there someone somewhere who does have both sides identical?

Frankly, I'm serious. I would love to have the definitive answer.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:27 AM

Surely you wouldn't want a dog to actually eat its crotch???

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:25 AM

I saw an article some years ago about a man in England (Manchester?) who reviewed pet foods by taste. No comment.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Allan C.
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 11:01 AM

I believe many of these were once spoken by George Carlin and may have originated with him. You can find more "Carlinisms" here. A web search using that term will reveal quite a few more.

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 10:47 AM

ROTFLMAO!!!! But too true.....

Subject: RE: BS: Every Wonder?
From: CarolC
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 09:46 AM

I know why there's no mouse-flavored cat food. In order to do that, someone would have to find out what mouse tastes like. Same reason they don't make dog-crotch flavored dog food.

Subject: BS: Every Wonder?
From: Pushkin
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 09:29 AM

...why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

...why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

...why you don't ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

...why "abbreviated" is such a long word?

...why doctors call what they do "practice"?

...why you have to click on "Start" to stop Windows 98?

...why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor, while dishwashing
liquid is made with real lemons?

...why the man who invests all your money is called a broker?

...why there isn't mouse-flavored cat food?

...who tastes dog food when it has a "new & improved" flavor?

...why Noah didn't swat those two mosquitoes?

...why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

...why they don't make the whole plane out of the material used for the indestructible black box ?

...why sheep don't shrink when it rains?

...why they are called apartments when they are all stuck together?

...if con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? .

...why they call the airport "the terminal" if flying is so safe?

:-))))))

Pushkin