venerdì 14 luglio 2023

The Naming.

 Seven men sat around a table.


They were aboard the HMS Discovery. The man with the cane was calling the shots and his decisions were not to be questioned. His name was Admiral Joseph France. Yes, I know, not a good name for an Englishman.

One of his sailors was dressed in white and he was of foreign descent. Admiral France didn't trust Ordinary Seaman Franz Josef because of that. He only trusted true Englishmen. He certainly didn't trust the natives that he found on this new land. He saw it as his job to discover things and then name them. 

His problem now was that young Franz Josef was the first to see the large rolling mass of ice and snow. 

The Admiral remembered Young Nick's Head disapprovingly. Places should be named after important Englishmen - he knew that for a fact, just as he knew that Jesus was originally from Manchester.

Still, he had to make it look good, so he had assembled six of his men. He'd included Ordinary Seaman Josef because he didn't want him starting rumours.

"I suggest that we call this glacier Joseph France." he said with authority.

"The Maori have probably already named it." said the sailor in the straw hat.

The admiral grunted a laugh. "I'm talking about a proper name."

The man who turned up carrying his rifle and wearing a large bayonet suggested, "Shouldn't Franz's name be in there somewhere? How about Franz Joseph? That would include you both."

The admiral sort of liked the fact that it sounded like his name back to front.

* * *

Franz Josef Glacier? Franz Joseph Glacier? France Joseph Glacier?

Your guess is as good as mine.

One thing is for sure...

Sure he's been there, as many of us have, but the glacier was not (re)discovered by this man.

I have NEVER heard it
referred to as
The Curmudgeon Glacier!


Not The Curmudgeon Glacier.

Anyway, Maori called it 'Ka Roimata O Hinehukatere' and they named it first. 

There's a better story behind the Maori name. Look it up.

In real life...

The glacier was evidently renamed after an Austrian emperor who could have been named Franz Joseph and was evidently also known as Francis Joseph.
This is all getting very confusing. I wish we'd stuck with the original Maori name.




Ciao tutti.

17 commenti:

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

A good effort but it’d be better to leave the made-up history stuff to me eh.
I believe that posts on violin strings and pottery studios are your forte.

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

We just arrived in Greymouth after a really great train trip from Christchurch through the Otira gorge and Arthur’s Pass. Stunning!
There’s every chance that I might write a post on this when we get back to Christchurch next week.

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

Martha named it for her husband.

Richard (of RBB) ha detto...

When I was young we used to call it Parthur's Arse (Ass).

Anonimo ha detto...

69

Anonimo ha detto...

69

Anonimo ha detto...

Oops, I keep saying things twice. Maybe I meant 138?

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

No, that’s your IQ.

Anonimo ha detto...

Well, not a bad one really.

Anonimo ha detto...

Better than 87.

Anonimo ha detto...

Or 15.

Anonimo ha detto...

Or, I guess, 0.

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

Bloody hell! I've been to the mountains and back and still you haven't written a new post.
This isn't good enough.

Anonimo ha detto...

But you had Robert's two shower images to look at. I didn't want to get in the way of your enjoyment.

Richard (of RBB)

THE CURMUDGEON ha detto...

Oops ... sorry, I was on my way to Robert's blog. At least that one gets updated from time to time.

Anonimo ha detto...

Enjoy.
Richard (of RBB)

Anonimo ha detto...

Enjoy Tent Horn's video.

Richard (of RBB)