ADS-L Digest - 19 Feb 2008 to 20 Feb 2008 (#2008-52)

[Benjamin Barrett]

The names were surely invented by Americans who were not necessarily
familiar with Native American languages in times when trying to get
details like that was far, far less important than providing
something Americans would believe.

I, and I'm sure, most of the people on the list simply want to know
where the names come from. If you have the definitive answer or know
why the people who created the series would not have used Spanish,
please let us know!

Benjamin Barrett
a cyberbreath for language life
livinglanguages.wordpress.com

On Feb 21, 2008, at 12:38 PM, Your Name wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Your Name <roseskes at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ADS-L Digest - 19 Feb 2008 to 20 Feb 2008 (#2008-52)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Re: Tonto and Kemosabe:
>
> It's driving me crazy that people keep ascribing two Spanish names
> to a gringo and a Native American!? C'mon, you guys, use some
> common sense.
>
> What's even worse is that some are trying to make "Kemosabe" into
> "Quien no sabe" as meaning "The one whom no one knows."? In
> Spanish, a different word for "know" would be used entirely.? So
> "The one whom no one knows" would be rendered: "El a quien nadie
> conoce."? Nothing like "Kemosabe."
>
> Even if it were to be "the one who doesn't know," it would be?"El
> que no sabe."
>
> It seems like we're so intent on putting ourselves and our ethnic
> history down, we'll bend and twist both language and logic all out
> of shape, as long as we can make it look like someone made an
> ethnic slur.?
>
> Yours for logic even if it's not PC,
> Rosemarie

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