2006-09-21 12:31:41 · 6 answers · asked by chris w 4 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
It means: "i do not understand your question." no lie! someone who was exploring Austrailia saw a kangaroo and asked one of the aboriginies what it was called. the aboriginie didn't understand his question, so he said "kangaroo".....though, i'm not sure if it was spelled that way....... but, true story, as far as i know.
2006-09-21 13:18:35 · answer #1 · answered by phobic_42 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimidhirr (an Australian Aboriginal language) word gangurru, referring to a grey kangaroo. The name was first recorded (as "Kangooroo or Kanguru") on 4 August 1770, by Lieutenant (later Captain) James 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 ones are joeys. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. Kangaroos are sometimes coloquially referred to as 'roos.
2006-09-22 06:51:11 · answer #2 · answered by Loz 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
WORD HISTORY A widely held belief has it that the word kangaroo comes from an Australian Aboriginal word meaning “I don't know.” This is in fact untrue.
The word was first recorded in 1770 by Captain James Cook, when he landed to make repairs along the northeast coast of Australia. In 1820, one Captain Phillip K. King recorded a different word for the animal, written “mee-nuah.”
As a result, it was assumed that Captain Cook had been mistaken, and the myth grew up that what he had heard was a word meaning “I don't know” (presumably as the answer to a question in English that had not been understood).
Recent linguistic fieldwork, however, has confirmed the existence of a word gangurru in the northeast Aboriginal language of Guugu Yimidhirr, referring to a species of kangaroo. What Captain King heard may have been their word minha, meaning “edible animal.”
2006-09-21 19:36:07 · answer #3 · answered by Mommadog 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Kangaroos belong to a group of marsupials called macropods, which means 'great footed animals'. All macropods have strong back legs with long feet. They hop on their back legs when travelling, using the tail as a balance. Their front legs are small.
2006-09-21 19:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't mean anything. There is a story that it is aboriginal for "I don't know" but this is not true.
2006-09-21 19:37:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
doesnt it mean "i dont understand your question"? cuz i heard that story too.
2006-09-21 20:18:46 · answer #6 · answered by Niki 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋