I so very much want to see this turned into one of those “LIMU Emus” commercials
It’s “eeem-you” dammit, not “eeemooo”.
And I want the guy to get a cassowary, and see how he goes then.
These things always escalate to super soakers
I laughed myself silly! The cat on my lap got pissed at the bumpy ride!
~VOW
That’s what I always thought. Have I been pronouncing wrong all these years? If not, how did they create a multi kajillion dollar marketing campaign based on a mispronunciation?
Americans (at least all the ones I’ve known) pronounce it the latter way.
I always thought it was pronounced: ee-mew, and that’s how I always pronounce it. That’s how I heard it pronounced when I was stationed in Australia.
A lot of things are pronounced funny in Australia…
Very emusing.
I’m not overly precious about the subject but do feel that the way the people of a country pronounce the names of their own native animals should be somewhat definitive.
I’ve always thought the emu and the cassowary were the closest animals we have today to their dinosaur ancestors. These large flightless birds that can injure or kill would seem like they would be at home in the Jurassic.
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Emus are pretty harmless really. The emu in the OP is no doubt bothered by the obnoxiously loud mower, and you will notice it has young of which it is no doubt being protective, plus you will notice they never mention the emu attacking them except when mowing.
Cassowary attacks are more of a concern.
If only Australia had had these effective weapons during the Great Emu War:
I recently discovered that ostriches - which are a dangerous animal, particularly when in mating season - have claws on their wings. I got to see them close up. Very dinosaur like!
For the record, other birds have claws on their wings, including the OP’s emus, and ducks, geese and kiwis, all vestigial, and not used.
The young hoatzil also have claws, and use them to climb - a remarkably “prehistoric” trait, although probably a vestigial claw that re-emerged as a usable feature.
In the spirit of mundane pointlessness, I’m suddenly reminded of my mother singing (to the tune of 'We Shall Gather At the River")
If I were a cassowary
On the shores of Timbuktu,
I would eat a missionary,
Body, bones and Bible too.
Yes, I would eat a missionary,
A mish- a mish- a missionary,
Yes, I would eat a missionary,
Body, bones and Bible too!
(She got it from her mother and aunts - I can’t imagine what their Baptist sunday school was like)
In his “Book of Deadly Animals”, Gordon Grice has a chapter on the dangers posed by large flightless birds, including emus, cassowaries and ostriches. One of his acquaintances raised them on a farm, using a pool cue to discourage attacks. At one point the farmer says, ominously, “We used to have a cat.”
Long ago Mrs. J. and I were driving through central Iowa when she called out, “Look! Buffalo! And ostriches!!”
I thought she was hallucinating, but sure enough, some farmer had those creatures in his field. We turned around and stopped by the fence. The ostriches came up (curiosity? Desire for ostrich treats?) and I briefly patted one on the head before it recoiled. I’d know better now.
I was building a fence once in a field which emus lived in (along with other herbivores but only the emus were a problem). They are attracted to the color red and would tiptoe up behind me to try to grab my red handled fencing pliers. I would suddenly discover an emu snaking its weird head around, inches behind me, I’d leap up and chase them (I think there were three of them) over the hill, come back and start working again … and they would start tiptoeing back again. It was tedious. They are really dimwitted. I remember once trying to get one to go through a gate, which he just could not find although he ran back and forth along the fence for a long time, often passing it. Chickens are a lot smarter than emus, and that is saying something.
I hear both pronunciations in the video linked in the OP.
So how do you pronounce “puma”?
coo-ger 