"Tell Me Something I Don't Know": Trivia & Fact Thread

[Bastet]

18 hours ago, Ancaster said:

We all (I think!) know that baby kangaroos are called joeys, but today I learnt that all marsupial babies are called joeys - koalas, wombats, etc.  Makes sense, but seems like it could be a good Jeopardy! question.

I can't find a "Marsupial babies are called this" clue in the archive, but they have acknowledged that fact on the show:  There was an entire "Joey" category once, and the correct responses were wombats, kangaroos, gliders, and bandicots (one clue didn't ask for the animal; it was about marsupial anatomy).

[Blergh]

I recall in my youth that the term 'joey'  when used for non-adult kangaroos as per the contemporary dictionaries was supposed to have been a word from an Australian Aboriginal language (but which of the 900+ known languages was not specified). Now it has 'unknown' origins so I'm wondering if perhaps the early English settlers might have asked a local Australian Aborigine what they called non-adult kangaroos and the individual responded- but whoever the first English speaker to use it might not have bothered to ask which TRIBE the Australian Aborigine informant came from.

One thing I'm sure  that EACH surviving Australian Aboriginal language has individualized terms for non-adult wombats, kangaroos, gliders and bandicots! Just like each European language has individualized terms for non-adult dogs, cats, horses, cows and sheep- instead of just terming them 'puppies'!

BTW, 'kangaroo' IS somewhat documented as having been first recorded in 1770 from a Northeast [Queensland] Australian tribe and I guess that a British mariner wrote it down and it would be used from that point on (which is better than just having them being called 'pocket-hoppers']!