We speak differently, it seems, as we chatted with our friends.
“How did you say that?”
“Willamette”
“No, you say it ‘Willamette’” (okay, it did sound differently)
But we’re foreigners to this country and how could one ever know how to say words like, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Cle Elum, Puyellup, Chehalis, Obanepecosh, Enumclaw, Osoyoos, and who would name a town ‘Sedro Woolley’? And ‘Rainier’ was mentioned.
Lynn spoke up, “Ya know, I know the etymology of that word…ya see, when the Finnish explorers were passing this way they saw that big mountain and named it, ‘It’s rainer here than anywhere else’ which was shortened to fit on the map to ‘it’s rainer-here’ and then shortened again to ‘rainyer’, then re-spelled to Rainier. Ha!
Or stay here in the North West I found a way to Minnesota. Lynn can take the plane but with this boat, I can meet her there. Lewis and Clark did it.
See you in Minnesota…
How big is that boat. I am sure you could get it up the Columbia but over the Rockies??? Lynn, I thought that it was the Swedes that named Mt. Rainier. LOL
ReplyDeleteAs for the boat, you've got to think about portage. Lewis and Clark (or probably their men) carried their canoes between the eastern and western watersheds.
ReplyDeleteAs for names and etymologies: I live in Washtucna (as you know)which outsiders (almost everyone in the world) mispronounce. It is Palouse for "many waters", and you have seen the place! The neighboring town is Kahlotus; which is Palouse for "stinking hole". There really is no explaining either one.