[Mihalic] dimdim

[linus digim'Rina]

I am not familiar with the word 'demdem' for snail so, cannot say much. In
fact have been learning a lot from the contributions so far. But as
mentioned by both John and Martha, dimdim is the Milne Bay word for white
skinned people from far off lands like Europe and Asia. Its origin and
etymology is still a mystery to most of us. I've asked around a bit (not
much) but no one seem to know. At least the Tubetube people have some idea.
On the other hand, Trobrianders have two other words which I believe predate
the word dimdim: Togumanuma and Toukoukwa. But again, dimdim is the
preferred term these days.

em tasol na sori tru.

linus


JB: have not forgotten the request - just a bit disorganised of late.

Martha Macintyre wrote:

> Demdem is the term for snail that I have heard. Not dimdim. Dimdim, the
> Milne Bay term for white people comes from an archaic term in some local
> languages for 'southern horizon'. At least that is what I was told on
> Tubetube in 1979 by several old men. It was associated particularly with
> the labour trade, pearlers etc who came from Australia.
> martha
>
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