2006-08-17 00:08:48 · 13 answers · asked by robbo 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
Dinner
2006-08-17 00:12:05 · answer #1 · answered by :Phil 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimidhirr (an Australian Aboriginal language) word gangurru, referring to a grey kangaroo. The name was first recorded on 4 August 1770, by Lieutenant (later Captain) Cook on the banks of the Endeavour River at the site of modern Cooktown, when HM Bark Endeavour was beached for almost 7 weeks to repair damage sustained on the Great Barrier Reef.
Kangaroo soon became adopted into standard English where it has come to mean any member of the family of kangaroos and wallabies. The belief that it means "I don't understand" or "I don't know" is a popular myth that is also applied to many other Aboriginal-sounding Australian words. Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers or jacks; females are does, flyers, or jills and the young are joeys. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. Kangaroos are sometimes coloquially referred to as 'roos.
2006-08-17 07:14:17 · answer #2 · answered by Anria A 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When cook landed on botany bay, he had conversed with an old aboriginal guy for some time. A few moments later a kangaroo hopped past, Cook asked the old aboriginal what's that?
The aboriginal replied,...kangaroo!
Years later when they got to understand the aboriginal language, they discovered kangaroo in english mean't....... i dont know?
2006-08-17 07:29:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The story goes that kangaroo meant "I don't understand," and when the British explorers asked, presumably loudly and slowly in English, what the animal was named, the Aborigines replied "Kangaroo." This fanciful story appears only relatively recently and has no supporting evidence, so it is almost certainly false
2006-08-17 07:14:24 · answer #4 · answered by cattyf 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard on the radio that it means "i don't know" or something of the sort, like (supposedly) The colonists or w/e saw the kangaroo and asked the Aborigines what it was and they said kangaroo (probably pronounced differently) and they thought that was its name, but they were saying they didn't know....
2006-08-17 07:17:49 · answer #5 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Grey kangaroo (ie not the red type or the wallaby)
2006-08-17 07:23:52 · answer #6 · answered by Lick_My_Toad 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ive only heard australians refer to them as ROO and thats the end of my knowlegde re the Kangaroo
2006-08-17 07:17:49 · answer #7 · answered by srracvuee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cheese sauce
2006-08-17 07:34:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might find out in here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo
2006-08-17 07:14:27 · answer #9 · answered by xenomorphic 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my dictionary, which is usually quite good at these things, just says 'probably from a native name in Queensland, Australia'
2006-08-17 17:19:53 · answer #10 · answered by used to live in Wales 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋