The Birmingham Zoo in Alabama has just added an elephant to its upcoming "Trails of Africa" exhibit.They got the 29-year-old bull, named Buldwagi, from Disney in Florida, The Birmingham News reports.
Buldwagi, it turns out, means "elephant."
So the Disney people, who came up with Mickey for a mouse (after first coming up with Mortimer for same mouse), Donald for a duck and seven different names for dwarfs, could only think up to call an elephant Elephant. That's sad.
If I were raised by a pack of wolves I wouldn't want them just calling me Human in their wolf talk. Be creative. Think up something to do with my personality or appearance. If you look at a picture of Buldwagi you'll notice that he has only one tusk. He lost the other in an accident when he was very young.
There's you a name, right there: Unitusk. Or Accident-Prone. Or Piano Key Donor.
Wait, wait: Tusk Tisk.
Whatever you go with, he won't care. He doesn't speak human.
But, you're thinking, they don't actually call him Elephant; they call him Buldwagi, which, since he is an African elephant, is Swahili or something for elephant.
Not so. It's Seminole.
Yes, apparently there is a word in Seminole for elephant. Probably something descriptive, too, like "Giant With Snake Nose Who Dances with Uncreative Nomenclature Givers."
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