Please mark your calendars for July 5th 12-2 pm at the Oak Bluffs Library and July 8th 730-9 pm at Renaissance House in Oak Bluffs when I will talk sharks and the written arts. from XOC - the White Shark Murders: The Maya of the Yucatan had a word Xoc (also written Xooc and Xok), pronounced shock. According to linguistics scholars, this Mayan word Xoc is the origin of the word “shark.” The word Xoc even looks like a shark – the capital X its dorsal fin and tail and the c its open mouth of razor-sharp teeth. The Oxford English Dictionary notes the word ‘shark’ first came into use in English after Sir John Hawkins sailors exhibited the mounted skeleton of one in London in 1569. The broadside advertising the exhibit used the word sharke, comparing it with the large sharks of the Caribbean Sea, where Hawkins and his men may have heard the Mayan word Xoc: “Ther is no proper name for it that I knowe, but that sertayne men of Captain Haukinses, doth call it a Sharke.” …. “You think?” Sitting down in Mocha Motts, a below-ground coffee bar on Circuit Avenue, I got a capsule version of Emma’s campaign against Vincie and the Boston Ultimate Trophy Fishing Club (BUTFC.) “100 million sharks are killed every year, mostly for shark fin soup. At this point there are only 3500 great white sharks in all the oceans of the world.” “Shouldn’t I feel safer?” I wondered aloud. “That’s just ignorance.” “You mean sharks don’t kill people?” “More people die from ordinary, everyday things. Like over 400 people die from falling off a ladder every year in the U.S. alone. 350 people drown in their bathtub. Twice that many choke to death on a chicken sandwich.” “Literally?” “Ok, forget Mama Cass,” she said. “750 people die due to inhalation during ingestion of food causing obstruction of their respiratory tract. Happy?” “Choke on a chicken sandwich…” “Or popcorn. But, the point is, last year twelve people total died from unprovoked shark attacks. That’s fewer than two people per billion killed across the entire planet of 7 billion people. Very rare, Sam.” “Un-provoked?” “Minding their own business. Sharks just don’t eat people on purpose. It’s usually a mistake when people get bitten by a shark. They think it’s a seal or something.” My coffee was still too hot to drink, and I didn’t want to put creamer in it, so I just sipped it slowly. “Meanwhile,” she went on, “Last year people killed those 100 million sharks, one hundred million, Sam! And just for their fins. So they could make soup?” Emma’s eyes flashed a brilliant shade of blue. I could almost see sharks swimming in them.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 15:48:25 +0000
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