Bipeds

I was out geocaching with a friend today. We were on a hunt for a cache in the state park metro region challenge. This is the challenge that I had completed earlier, but was repeating today. The hike actually had us following a horse trail which can be difficult for alot of reasons. Nevermind the soft sand which makes a long trek harder, and the constant need to look down in order to avoid "road apples" as a fellow cacher proclaimed, this particular hike was difficult because it was a very busy. Several times along the way we had to stop and get off the trail as there was not enough room for all of us at the same time.

Well, one particular instance when we saw horses just as they saw us and I heard the leader of the pack yell back "bipeds ahead". At first I wasn't sure what I had heard as it did not register as a word I knew. One of the riders with her must not have heard either because she hollered up "what?" and the leader responded back, "bipeds...people". Ah, clever! Made total sense when I stopped to think about it.

Lots of groups of special terms that they use to describe members outside of their group. In geocaching terms someone who doesn't cache is called a "muggle". So if a cache is hidden in a park where community members may be present, the cache owner may warn fellow cachers to "be ware of muggles" meaning, be careful that they don't become suspucious of what you're doing. ("Muggles" is also used in the Harry Potter book seriers to refer to a person who is not a witch or warlock.)

When we were in Hawaii, I learned about the term "Howlie". A "Howlie" is a person in Hawaii who is not native of Hawaii. I was told that this term can even be linked to ethnicity and that even if you live in Hawaii, if you don't have ancestory that can be traced back to hawaiin roots you'll always be a howlie to some. I think Bette Middler talks about being a howlie and she grew up there.

In Australia, those not born in Australia might be called a "pommy". Many times this term is used to refer to someone from England. Why pommy? The online dictionary source dictionary.com says it could be a shortned version of pommegranite. Like that makes any sense? It listed a few other possibilities. But the one thing that's for sure? That the term is considered "disparaging". Guess when you think about it there are alot of examples of terms used within one's own group to label someone in your out group. Guess this means that
"biped" was not as fun as I thought!!


Photo: Deb Jacobson and her sister Barb Elseth two of my biped friends.
W: 3.5 miles