Posted by Ed Kiser on April 09, 2006 at 19:36:41 from 152.163.101.7 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: How many dogs were there? posted by Adam Quinan on April 09, 2006 at 04:50:58:
After all this discussion about the relative merits of DOGS' vs DOG'S, it could be considered "Much ado about nothing." Or very little something, anyway, as I did a count and found:
PM CH3 - five references to Dogs' Home
In chapters 4,5, and 6 of PM, there is only one reference per chapter.
Beginning in CH4, and in almost every chapter after that, there are many MANY references to "The Hut." Once we reach chapter 7, there is no further use for the name, "DOGS' Home".
Even the charcoal burners lived in a hut, sometimes called a WIGWAM. Another difference in this common language, English, as I believe that is pronounced in the UK as WIG WHAM, (like hitting something with a WAHM, the sound associated with a heavy striking blows) but in the USA is more like WIG WAHM, where the "A" vowel is as "ah", as in "FATHER."
This name WIGWAM is associated in my mind with the rustic dwelling of the American Indian, not to be confused with the TEEPEE, which is pyramid shaped collection of poles meeting at the top, covered in hides. I think the charcoal burners lived in a TEEPEE shaped hut, whereas the American Indian Wigwam was more like a circle of small tree limbs, small enough to be flexible, but stuck into the ground in a circle, with their tops bent together to form a dome shaped enclosure, to be covered with hides. In this mode, the image I have of the Eskimo IGLOO is more like the WIGWAM than like a TEEPEE, considering its dome shape.
Ed Kiser, South Florida
And for what it is worth, even in "Picts and Martyrs" there is a reference to THE IGLOO. No plurals; there was just the one.