[Mihalic] Re: Mihalic Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1

[Terry H. Gilsenan]

Hello,

A correction regarding Slones assertion:

> sospen: additional noun phrase: "as bilong sospen    a North Solomonese
>(Griffin 1989: 26). Lit. 'arse comes from a saucepan' or 'arse belongs in
>a saucepan.' This is a double-entendre, meaning either 'your skin is so
>black that it is burnt' or 'we eat you.' The explanation for the former
>meaning is that the skin of the North Solomonese is blacker than that of
>most other Papua New Guineans. The latter explanation implies cannibalism,
>which probably still exists in a few remote areas of P.N.G. but was
>eradicated in most parts of the country only a lifetime ago, and therefore
>is still in the social conscience." (Slone, 1995)

The phrase "as bilong sospen" simply means the bottom of the saucepan.

There is no reference to colour, contents, or any thing else.

In this context, "as" simply means "root", or "cause", or "bottom". It does
not mean or refer
to a person, their colour, or cannibalism in any way.

Frankly the phrase is an orphan, and needs a qualifier of some type, eg:

"bilak, wankain olesem as bilong sospen" refering to colour, but again not
to skin colour, just
colour in a generic form.

refering to a persons skin colour, it would be properly:

"Dispela man, skin bilong em i bilak olesem as bilong sospen"

for a cannibalism context, It would be a long strech of the imagination to
just used the original
phrase.

Some have indicated that they cant believe that cannibalism would still be
practiced in PNG, well I
would be rather surprised if cannibalism wasnt being practiced in some
ritual form or other in quite
a few areas within the country.

Regards,
T