Unusual (first) names (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Baker, John]

        Napoleon Chagnon, in Yanomamo:  The Last Days of Eden, tells of
how the Yanomamo gave him scandalous fake names, such as "Hairy Cunt"
and "Eagle Shit," because a name taboo made them reluctant to give real
names.  Maybe something similar was going on here.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:00 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unusual (first) names (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Anyone interested in unusual names should see the list of American
Indian names I posted last year:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0712A&L=ADS-L&P=R11898
&I=-3&m=72854

I haven't figured out if these terms weren't taboo in Indian culture, if
they were but were given by Indians to people with intent of mocking
them, or if they were transcribed by white people with the intent of
mocking them.

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