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Old 04-17-2008, 11:13 AM   #15 (permalink)
Chase
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,316
S-mile-S. Good wordplay, Buffalo. What this thread's all about.

9. Speaking of buffalo, you know of course the American buffalo was misnamed by the English speakers who first saw them. The animal is really a bison, but the closest animal in the experience of those reporting on the New World was the African and Asion buffalo.

a. Same with the American Indian. Oops! We really aren't in India after all.

b. Ditto the American antelope. It's really a unique species, fastest animal in the North America . . . the pronghorn.

c. The elk in America are not the same critter in Europe. A better name is the native one, wapiti. I'm sure others know many similar goofs from all over.
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