Message-Id: <l03130305b2c3dc25f88f@[205.216.99.25]>
In-Reply-To: <369D7186.7881B49A@execpc.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 12:40:18 -0500
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
From: "Craig O'Donnell" <dadadata@friend.ly.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka Vernon's reply
> Another question that I have is why paint the frame red in southwest
>Alaska and the Aleutians? On that, Zimmerly says Bunyan informed him that
>"We've always done it that way". Is there more meaning than that? Was the
>meaning lost by the time Zimmerly did his work? When Bunyan directed
>Zimmerly to paint the gunwales, he was told to paint the outside of them
>with an alternating red and natural pattern that Bunyan once saw! That was
>the only reason given.
>
> Opinion time - I think that Euro-Americans seek an answer for all
>things as a matter of habit. Maybe there was little function or meaning
>involved in these processes. Maybe they were just habit or tradition or
>art. Maybe the meaning was lost long ago, but everyone still did it. Lots
>of maybes, eh?
"We've always done it that way" or "It's traditional" are pretty much the
definition of stable preliterate societies, no? When everything has to be
passed along verbally and/or by example, it's a great economy. Think about
it.
Craig O'Donnell
The Proa FAQ <http://www.cyber-dyne.com/~jkohnen/proafaq.html>
The Cheap Pages <http://www.friend.ly.net/user-homepages/d/dadadata/>
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-- Professor of Boatology
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