Friday, July 12, 2013

The Caribou

Professor:      "I am here on the North Slope recording a bilingual caribou, who speaks a unique Eskimo dialect . . . Will you illustrate, please?"

Caribou:         "drzlyfumnpxksrccbggujalkr”

Professor:      "Meaning?"

Caribou:         “One o’clock”

Professor:      "May we have another example?"

Caribou:         “gxh.”

Professor:      "Translated how?"

Caribou:         “The place where two oceans meet in a bay that goes inland through a purple fjord that turns pale and then not so pale and goes on and on, in and out and then narrows somewhere but floods in May and maybe part of June.”

Professor:      "Any other expression, not so nuanced, that we may be interested in?"

Caribou:         “landscapeintruisionsinthenameofcivilizationalloverthespillspoiledplace
                        bypropernounsexxonandbritishpetroleumforimproperpurposes.”

Professor:      "We can almost decipher that."

Caribou:        " In plainer English: 'Men come now and dig dig and pump pump and lay down big pipe and seep and soak the land with poison, and may they go to blazes without taking us with them.'”

Professor:      "Thank you very much."

Caribou:         "You are not welcome."
            
Moral: Enough said.

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