Re: language and science

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Sat, 14 Dec 1996 09:04:25 -0600

At 6:48 AM -0600 12/14/96, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 12:36 AM 12/14/96 -0500, Greekroy@aol.com wrote:
>>Jonathan,
>>
>> I followed Andrew fairly well, and I followed you until "Kukuyu", uh, it=
is
>>not in my dictionary could you help me out.
>
>Sorry! The Kukuyu are a tribe in Kenya. When I saw mention of this language=
,
>it stuck in my memory, since I once roomed with a Kukuyu and even learned a
>few words of that language. My roommate's name was Wathiga Gachugu, and it
>isn't pronounced anything like what you might think...it took me a long tim=
e
>to master his name.

Gee, my age is increasingly evident. Am I the only one who remembers the
terrorist organization of the MauMau among the KiKuyu tribe in Kenya back
in the late 50's and early 60's--those same days when Daniel Malan in South
Africa was talking about having achieved a Platonic Republic down there by
means of Apartheid (while most were predicting a very bloody revolution
within a decade there). I guess the changes in the world at large since my
youth are probably far more dramatic than those experienced by those who
grew up before World War I and saw their whole world order explode. Perhaps
our understanding of ancient Greek grammar will be altered dramatically
too! (just to bring this back to list relevance)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/