November 14, 2007

Tribes celebrate white buffalo

American Indians celebrate white buffalo's birthdayKenahkihinen, whose name means "watch over us," was born at Woodland Zoo last year on Nov. 12.

In celebration of his first birthday, tribes from across the United States came together Sunday to pay reverence to the white buffalo.

Kenahkihinen, joined by his mother and two other buffalos, came out of their shelter and trotted around the enclosure to the rhythmic beat of drums.
What the white buffalo means:According to Running Bear, the white buffalo is a sacred animal that represents unity and peace.

Kenahkihinen has brought unity to people, Running Bear said, noting the different tribes--Lakota, Cherokee and Blackfoot--represented at Sunday's celebration.

Running Bear said at one point in time the tribes were warring and at odds with each other, but the birth of a white buffalo, throughout the centuries, has brought them together in peace.

7 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
A white buffalo is a genetic mutation that appears sporadically. Ordinarily, they are not alibinoes but in fact are variations that last or do not last. In the 1990s, two such variations were born. One died, and the other turned normal brown within one month. A true white buffalo is male, maintains itself, and then becomes a herd leader. If the current white buffalo continues to exist, then even the Kiowa will send emissaries to honor its existence. A warning: if it is a true white buffalo, EuroMan will not know what must be done for its honor, and then its spirit will act. The rest of us are waiting...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

The word you misspelled is "albinos," not "alibinoes." In case you didn't know, many nouns ending in -o take the simple -s suffix, not -es. For instance, "casinos" is correct, not "casinoes" (one of your habitual mistakes).

Thanks for the info on white buffaloes.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
The actual rule concerning pluralism for nouns is that, if the noun is not plural in and of itself, (The buffalo nearly were pushed into extinction by the start of the 20th century.), then the 'e-s' ending is optional. Witness 'echoes'. Thus, casinos and casinoes, albinos and albinoes interchangeably are acceptable usages and spellings. And one cannot bend the edicts of the gods of grammar just because one is lazy and addicted to convenience, such as equating 'decimate' with 'devastate' when 'decimate' clearly means "to kill one in ten."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
The actual rule is that, if the word cannot be a plural exactly as it stands (buffalo, buffalos, buffaloes -- the buffalo nearly were pushed into extinction by the early 20th century.), then the 's' and 'e-s' endings interchangeably can be so employed. In the case of words that end in 's-h' and 'c-h', then only the 'e-s' ending applies, such as in 'echoes.' And one arbitrarily cannot disobey the gods of grammar just because it either is convenient or easier, such as in equating 'decimate' and 'devastate' as 'decimate' etymologically means "to kill one in ten..."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Oh, great! First, one post disappears into the ether, then when it is rewritten, BOTH pop up! Did writerfella say, 'echoes?'
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

"Decimate" means what today's dictionary, not some decrepit dictionary as old as you are, says it means. As for the plurals of "albino" and "casino," they are "albinos" and "casinos," respectively.

I don't need to ask to know you can't quote a source for your "rule" or a dictionary for your pluralizations. As usual, you seem to be making up your "facts" as you go along.

According to your so-called rule, "radioes," "tacoes," "videoes," "autoes," and "pianoes" are all acceptable. If that's what you think, you're even more ignorant of English than I thought.

The only thing you're correct about is that -s and -es are both acceptable for "buffalo." Too bad that isn't true of "albino" or "casino."

Rob said...

FYI, the Blogger software underlines misspelled words in red. I suggest you pay attention next time so you don't make the same mistakes again.

Here's the rule you were looking for on pluralizing nouns ending in -o:

http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm#in%20o

Some nouns ending in o are pluralized with an "s," while others call for "es." These words must be memorized, because there is no simple rule to explain the differences.