Melanenglish?

[Benjamin Barrett]

Yes, it was the John Frum (John from America) cargo cult.

FWIW, "two hundred" doesn't seem like a very important term. Do all
languages have a word for "hundred" (or a corresponding number for
non-decimal counting systems)? BB

On Dec 30, 2007, at 9:23 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

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> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Melanenglish?
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> Wikipedika [article "Tanna (island)")] is supportive.  An island of
> Vanuatu, populated almost entirely by Melanesians; in some villages
> modern inventions are restricted and "the inhabitants wear penis
> sheaths" [the women too?!]; and it is "the centre of the Jon Frum
> cargo cult, which worships an American World War II soldier as their
> god."  [I looked up Tanna because I wondered whether it was part of
> New Guinea.]
>
> But why did things like "two hundred" and "last night" get adopted
> from English?  Hardly American military slang, and concepts that
> "traditionals" (Wikipedia's term) would seem to need as much as
> Westerners.
>
> Joel
>
> At 12/30/2007 11:48 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> I think I saw it. It's on an island that has a cargo cult. It seems
>> they have a lot of words from English, which probably arrived with
>> their religion in WWII.
>>
>> I recall from Turnbull's _The Forest People_ that being tall can be a
>> great disadvantage if you have to walk through the jungle. I think
>> the Mbuti pygmies laughed at him for being so tall.
>>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> a cyberbreath for language life
>> livinglanguages.wordpress.com
>>
>> On Dec 30, 2007, at 8:40 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
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>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Melanenglish?
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>>> I'm watching the Travel Channel, which is featuring the life of
>>> Melanesian-looking people - the guys are wearing only penile
>>> sheaths -
>>> on an island named "Tanna." As they speak the usual random babble of
>>> phones, pitches, and tones that you hear when you have no
>>> training in
>>> linguistic fieldwork, I suddenly hear what appear to be English
>>> strings like "two hundred" and "last night." And sho nuff, the
>>> subtitles read, "two hundred [pigs]" and "[had a good time] last
>>> night."
>>>
>>> The program features both traditional and modern (called
>>> "clothes-wearers" by the traditionals) tribes. It's startling to see
>>> that the moderns generally stand head-and-shoulders taller than the
>>> traditionals.
>>
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