I’m not sure how true this is, though I beginning to suspect it isn’t, but I read a blurb from Neil Gaiman where he claims that the Nepali translation of ‘Yeti’ is ‘That thing over there’ as in:
Great White Hunter to local native mountain guide: “What’s that over there?!”
Jaded tired Guide sick of Monsterquest leaving needy messages on his Blackberry: “It’s a Yeti”
Hee hee. I love the concept even if it is more urban myth than literal fact. I myself have had a similar experience. I was once asked if I had seen a UFO. I replied that I had indeed seen a UFO. I watched with mirth as the person’s face contorted through disbelief, hints of contempt, and finally curiosity. Yes, I saw an object in the sky I could not identify. What could I say, it did not look like anything I knew. That does not mean it was manned by space aliens hell bent on abducting the more rural members of my local community, it just meant that a more knowledgeable person than myself was required to identify the flying object.
I think we sometimes forget that words have power, and more importantly how words are defined is the source of that power. That definitions can slide and shift almost seamlessly in the public mind, that UFO can go from a highly objective term to a highly subjective term in a couple of generations says wonders about the human mind. Of course, playing off the multiple meanings of words is a source of great personal satisfaction and I highly recommend it.