Comments on recent additions

[BURTON John]

Thomas
 
Comments on your comments:

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas H. Slone [mailto:THSlone at yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, 15 March 2002 1:28 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Comments on recent additions


pamuk
pamuk man: prostitute's client, "john"

any ideas on the etymology of pamuk?  Could it be a contraction of "pam
huk", where "pam" is the Tok Piksa meaning (penis)?
[BURTON John] 
Oops, pamuk man should go in. However, is not the meaning a man who screws
around wantonly rather than prostitute's client? Certainly, in specific
relation to pamuk, there is a huge discrepancy between those who freely
attribute this to others, as opposed to those for whom the caps actually
fits. Thus, is not 'prostitute's client' an almost invisible concept,
swamped by the antics of the normative sex-fiend/pamuk ma?

[BURTON John] Suggested etymology - not convincing.
kona
Your query on the Scientific name for faiv kona:  It is Averhhoa carambola,
as stated in Mihalic (p. 85) (see also
http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/acc_num/198500347.html)
[BURTON John] Thank you (excellent web site).

kranki
etymology: kranki could also be from (or reinforced by) the German "krank"
(sick, ill) (Slone, 1995: 90)
[BURTON John]  Probably not. Note that 'cranky' is mainly Australian
English.

kranki: culturally backward (Tok Bokis) (Schwartz, 1962: 239)
[BURTON John] Usages? 

dungki
I have not seen or heard this term used, but from the description you gave
it would probably refers to rhinoceros beetles in the Dynastinae subfamily
of scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae).  The most common species in PNG is
Xylotrupes gideon (Gressitt & Hornabrook, 1977: 34-35).
[BURTON John] Has anyone heard DUNGKI? 

pekpek
Slone (1995) is referred to here but is missing from the bibliography
[BURTON John] Ok 

mauspekpek: to waffle (Tok Piksa) [Todd and Mühlhäusler, 1978: 30]
[BURTON John] Ok 

tok, tokim
tok masta: a variety of Tok Pisin used by non-native speakers
[BURTON John] Unless someone, especially a native speaker, knows of this in
actual usage, I am treating this as a formation made up by linguists! 

manki
I question the assertion that this was brought by Malay traders.  The
closest sounding Malay word for monkey is "monyet".  I think it's more
likely that it came directly from English.
[BURTON John] You are probably right. The attribution is from Mihalic. 

wok
ful wok: "labour which is both heavy, poorly rewarded and imposed by others"
(Strathern, 1975: 34-36). This could be a conflation foolish work (ful wok)
and extorted work (pul wok) (Slone, 1995: 85-86).
[BURTON John] I'll have a look. 

kat, katim
katim kona    1. to take a shortcut   2. to have premarital sex (Tok Piksa)
[Mühlhäusler, 1979: 336]
[BURTON John] True. 

References
Gressitt, J. L. & Hornabrook, R. W. (1977). Handbook of Common New Guinea
Beetles. Wau Ecology Institute Handbook No. 2. Wau, Papua New Guinea: Wau
Ecology Institute.

Schwartz, Theodore (1962). "The Paliau Movement in the Admiralty Islands,
1946-1954." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History
49(2): 211-421.

Slone, Thomas H. (1995). "Tok Nogut: An Introduction to Malediction in Papua
New Guinea." Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression 11:
75-104.

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