Quirky History facts!

[ughaibu]

Michaelangelica: Here's an odd account of the incident: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=20041..._In_Pachyderms

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by ughaibu

Michaelangelica: Here's an odd account of the incident: http://zapatopi.net/blog/?post=20041..._In_Pachyderms

Amazing
Hard to believe; but amazing
Thankyou

Tuffi was not seriously injured in the fall and was unfortunately recaptured shortly after.

The Toronga Zoo ( a great zoo in Sydney) has just impoted a few elephants

[alexander]

Originally Posted by michaelangelica

and Latin?

no, greek only... Really, really technically barbarians were those people who were not Greek. Many people spoke latin, but it was very few people outside HRE that spoke greek

[eric l]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Why?

Do elephants often take trips on monorails and swan dive into rivers?

Tuffi was a circus elephant, the monorail trip was just one of the circus's publicity stunts. The incident occured on july 21st 1950, and is mentioned in the history section of the site of the Wuppertal Monorail. Sadly, this history section is availableonly in German, not in the English version of the site.
http://schwebebahn.com

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by alexander

no, greek only... Really, really technically barbarians were those people who were not Greek. Many people spoke latin, but it was very few people outside HRE that spoke greek

Ok; thanks for putting me straight

I though barbarians were the northern European tribes Germanic etc that gave Rome such stife.

Were Persians and Egyptians barbarians too?

[alexander]

Barbarians were everyone who was not Greek, so yes the rest of the world was barbarians. Now, because romans dealt with Goths and other germanic people, they were the people that barbarian was used for the most, eventually giving it's today's meaning of:

1. A member of a people considered by those of another nation or group to have a primitive civilization.
2. A fierce, brutal, or cruel person.

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

and Latin?
because thay Bar . . Bar. Bar. babbled
(Their speach sounded like babble-is there a Roman word for that?)

Yes, barbarus, from the Greek barbaros. Although, not exactly. It is onomatopeic but indicated stutter, by imitation, more than babble.

I disagree about it "technically" meaning not-Greek-speaking, the word in each language originally meant foreigner --long before Latin had become the lingua franca-- and in later Roman times came to be derogatory and hence applied to the enemy.

[Turtle]

While Ben Franklin was in France negotiating a treaty in 1777, a Benedictine monk wrote him proposing that he would pray for America if America would pay off his gambling debts.

[alexander]

Disagree all you want, its a fact and is posted as such, even wiki says: The word "Barbarian" comes into English from Medieval Latin barbarinus, from Latin barbaria, from Latin barbarus, from the ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (barbaros) which meant a non-Greek, someone whose (first) language was not Greek. Nothing to disagree with...

[alexander]

Her is another quirky fact: Martin Luther King, was actually named after a great theologian and church reformer Martin Luther, King's real name was Michael and his family last name was King.