Kalaallit (Greenland)

[Jan Ivarsson TransEdit]

Bapopik wrote:
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MORE FROM MY DANISH GUIDE:
BACKBOARD INDIAN--a homosexual.  I asked him for any terms for gays, and he came up with this, but another Dane had never heard of it.  The guide said that "Backboard" means "starboard," as on a ship.
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Sorry, but Barry's Danish guide was wrong. "Backboard" is "port" on a ship. German has "Backbord", Swedish has shortened this to "babord", and Danish has "bagbord". I think that even English had the word once upon a time: it comes from the epoch when ships had a steering oar instead of a rudder. This oar was usually on the "steerboard" ("Steuerbord", "styrbord") side, and the steersman turned his back to the port side.

Jan Ivarsson
jan.ivarsson at transedit.st