[Ads-l] Antedating of "bunyip"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Dec 19 22:28:47 UTC 2014


ISTR that the reality of bunyips in one form or another is discussed in Dr.
Bernard Heuvelmans' cryptozoological classic, _On the Track of Unknown
Animals_ (1955; trans. 1958).

Since it was the first grown-up book I ever read, it made an impression.

For better or worse.

JL

On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 2:49 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "bunyip"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The only context that I've seen it has always been the same as the
> Jackalope, except for the early platypus references that I was vaguely
> aware of. When I talked to Australian friends about the jackalope, they
> all insisted that it's the same as the bunyip. The young these days!
> (and for the past 30 years...)
>
> VS-)
>
> On 12/19/2014 7:16 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > the bunyip redivivus, from Wikipedia:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertie_the_Bunyip Bertie the Bunyip was
> > the lead puppet character on the popular American children's
> > television series The Bertie the Bunyip Show in Philadelphia,
> > Pennsylvania, during the 1950s and 60s. He was portrayed as a =
> > black-colored seal-looking character with a duck-bill-type face. For
> > children he was cute and friendly, getting into harmless situations.
> >
> > Created by Australian Lee Dexter, Bertie was a bunyip (a mythological
> > Australian creature), described by Dexter as "a cross between a bunny,
> > a collie dog and a duck billed platypus."
>
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>



-- 
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