The Kangaroo Meets the Cook Expedition. - Neatorama

"The kangaroo," writes Richard Waller, "was first discovered in Australia by Captain Cook. He brought back its skin and asked painter George Stubbs to make a picture from it. He inflated the skin, and this is the finished picture at Parham House." The rest of the kangaroo was eaten by the expedition, with relish.

Great story!

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Mmm, kangaroo with relish!

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Or possibly a nice mango chutney.

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Actually, the kangaroo was not 'discovered' by Cook. It was already well known by the local residents at the time of Cook's arrival in 1770. The story goes that Cook pointed at one of the strange beasts and asked an Aborigine, "What do you call that?" The man replied: "Kangaroo." It was later learnt that in the local dialect, "kangaroo" means "What you talkin' about, white man?". Or something like that.

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"the kangaroo was not â€˜discoveredâ€™ by Cook. It was already well known by the local residents at the time of Cookâ€™s arrival in 1770."

Well, duh!

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That's like, if somebody said "I discovered a great new restaurant," and somebody else said, "No you didn't. The owners already knew where it was." It's two different uses of the word.

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ocky: Misinformation will be your doom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo#Terminology

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