FW: wanpis

BURTON John john.burton at tsra.gov.au
Fri Mar 15 13:41:50 EST 2002


Folk were discussing the meaning of 'wanpis' on Asaonet. Can we help out?
I haven't really thought about it but (obviously 'wanpis' means solitary) I
have the idea that because, fish swim about together, when you see one
swimming by itself, you can talk of 'the only fish in the sea'.

Is this something like how 'wanpis' has come about?
John Burton

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Golub [mailto:ajgolub at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU]
Sent: Friday, 15 March 2002 4:52 AM
To: ASAONET at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
Subject: Re: wanpis


Where I lived in PNG (Enga) it meant 'only child' - there was only wan pes
(one face) in the family. It was a not-uncommon proper name.
-A

-----Original Message-----
From: Claudia Gross [mailto:claudiagross at clear.net.nz]
Sent: Friday, 15 March 2002 12:21 PM
To: ASAONET at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
Subject: Re: wanpisI haven't got a clue about any connection to tinea,
but...

>From Morobe I know 'wanpis' as similar to 'wanpela', to mean single or 'by
myself', such as 'mi stap wanpela tasol' or 'mi stap wanpis tasol' which can
both
mean (contextually) I am here by myself or (more categorically) I am single
and
hence are here by myself. When I was going places and was asked whether I
was by
self ('yu tasol i kam?') and replied 'yes, mi stap wanpela tasol'  people
could
reply 'oh yu wanpis tasol, ah?'  trying to find out whether I was living
with
someone or was married.
'Wanpes' on the other hand, in Morobe at least, means to resemble someone,
to
have the same face -- e.g. meri ya i kisim pes bilong papa bilong en, tupela
wanpes.

cheerio,
Claudia


More information about the Mihalic mailing list