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10/13/2003 Archived Entry: "KANGAROO OR KANGURU"

KANGAROO OR KANGURU

I was just reading how the Australian word "kangaroo" came into use in our language.

According to the Australian National Dictionary Centre: "In 1770, when Captain Cook was forced to make repairs to the Endeavour in north Queensland, he and his party saw a number of large marsupials. From the local Aborigines Cook elicited kangaroo or kanguru as the name of one of the animals. This was in the Guugu Yimidhirr language of Cooktown. The Aborigines gave the name for a species of kangaroo - the large black or grey kangaroo Macropus robustus. Cook mistakenly thought that this was a general or generic term for all kangaroos (and even wallabies), and this is how the word came into English."

I love the way the word "kanguru" appears to be pronounced. Kang guru....It sounds so much more "Aussie".