history channel talking about early americans had a historian tonight that said the natives built balsa boats out of american bull rushes. so it must be a descriptive term. not a label and shouldn' ax men be called american choppers?
Semantics arguments are very common, but in English they are pretty fruitless. Unlike the French, who have an official organization to rule on the language, English is supervised by anarchy!
Balsa - A form of boat or raft made by tying bundles of rushes together in a cigar shape. Balsas were used by Indians of California, as on Cedar Lake among the Pomo and Tulare Lake among the Yokut. Sometimes balsas were made of tule grass, like those used on Pyramid lake in nevada. The name is from the Spanish balsa, which means a raft or float for conveying people or goods across a river.
that makes sense. the actual wood must have been later.
OldSchool wrote: : On Apr 15, 11:33??pm, snipped-for-privacy@some.domain wrote: :> history channel talking about early americans had a historian :> tonight that said the natives built balsa boats out of american bull rushes. : : The name is from the Spanish balsa, which means a : raft or float for conveying people or goods across a river. : Whoa! The History Channel got something right! Mark this day on your calenders!
Bruce
Only if the boat builders are called 'bullrushers' (obscure Twain reference)
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
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