# Migration from South America to Polynesia

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migration-from-south-america-to-polynesia/744730>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 31, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migration-from-south-america-to-polynesia/744730 "2016-01-31T06:05:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migration-from-south-america-to-polynesia/744730/21 "2016-02-01T05:47:34Z")

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> [@Blake](#):
>
> South Am: toolache

This must be from that Japanese STD **Zach29** was mentioning …

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migration-from-south-america-to-polynesia/744730/22 "2016-02-01T05:53:15Z")

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> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> this certainly does not follow, which was my point.

It does follow, which is the point of the article I linked too, which is why I said that.

> [@](#):
>
> What if we’re only given a word or two-- say, that cute Japanese gaijin / Hebrew goyim pair? Even with one word, we can estimate phonetic leeway segment by segment: …. That gives us (1/14) \* (1/3) \* (1/5) \* (1/6) or 1 in 1260 (= .00079)
> 
> … I can’t emphasize enough that inexact matches greatly multiply the chances for finding random resemblances.

Let’s say we have a probability of .00079 that any Polynesian word for taro will match any given South American language. There are over 500 languages in South America, which means that the probability that any Polynesian word for taro will match at least one South American word for Taro is 0.79, or near enough 80%.

But we know there are multiple Polynesian words for taro. Following the same reasoning and being very conservative, this should increase the chance of one of those words matching a South American words by one in 5000, which means that the the probability that any Polynesian word for taro will match at least one South American word for Taro is 0.99, or near enough 100%.

If we then allow for inexact matches, such as taro in one language matching “root vegetable” or " taro meal" in another, then the odds increase further still.

Or as I originally said: It’s a near certainty that one word for taro in one South American dialect will be identical to the word in Polynesian, by random chance.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migration-from-south-america-to-polynesia/744730/23 "2016-02-01T05:54:19Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> This must be from that Japanese STD **Zach29** was mentioning …

😕

:eek:

🙂

😃

Bwaa haaa haa haaa.

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