Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Ross Clark Newsgroups: sci.lang Subject: Re: Word of the day: ?Papoose? Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2024 16:26:39 +1200 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 23 Message-ID: References: <87a5gsplpx.fsf@parhasard.net> <0t59dj589ukk3a8tlb4hemi1e8hsqneb5d@4ax.com> <87ttexnqft.fsf@parhasard.net> Reply-To: r.clark@auckland.ac.nz MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2024 06:26:48 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="e25ad2630dba85aec6ceefcbae0c7ea7"; logging-data="3896655"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19jehVYwzX4NTxOSKqIDwjXI53KrnACssg=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.9.1 Cancel-Lock: sha1:LfSmpj2PrDW9HfmuMJG8JfwDZFo= Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: Bytes: 2467 On 4/09/2024 12:10 p.m., Peter Moylan wrote: > On 04/09/24 01:53, Steve Hayes wrote: > >> Yes, 'twas the Wikipedia reference that gave me the impression that >> the "child" usage was common in the USA, and, as Peter Moylan points >> out, in Australia. Elsewhere it seems to be understood primarily as >> a child holder. > > Well, I'm not sure about "common in Australia". The word is rare here in > either meaning; we know it only from North American sources. And let me point out that the North Americans themselves know it only from "certain sources". It's not an everyday word. It's part of a special vocabulary they have read or seen used (historically) with reference to Indians (along with "squaw", "brave", "wampum", "how!" and others). That's the reason for a certain vagueness about its meaning. > > I should also point out that my youngest child is 36 years old, so my > understanding of child carriers is a long way out of date. I do have > grandchildren, but I carry them in child seats that are installed over > the back seats of my car. >