Re: LoGH Mystery Ship

Walter Amos (amos@sedl.org)
Fri, 14 Mar 1997 16:23:26 -0600 (CST) 

On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, Scott Swoboda wrote:

> CSUE@delphi.com wrote:
> > 
> > Ree: mystery ship - I believe the proper spelling of the name should be
> > Masasoit.  (An Indian name - Whether a tribe or a chief, I don't
> > recall!)
> > 
> Looks like Sue wins the mystery ship sweepstakes, and with it, our
> undying admiration and praise.  Thanks to her clue, I found "Massasoit"
> (close, Sue!) in the biographical section of my Webser's Dictionary.  He
> was a sachem (chief) of Wampanoag Indians of eastern Massachusetts. 

You got to this before I was able to comment.  I believe historically
Massasoit was the Indian envoy to the Pilgrims.  He made a peace treaty with
them and attended the first Thanksgiving celebration.  

What truly amazes me about all this is that a *Japanese* author chose to use
this figure as the basis of the name for a ship.  (Sue - is this canonical,
BTW?  Is this ship in the novels or is it an invention of the anime?)  I mean,
I am sure 99% of *Americans* wouldn't remember who Massasoit was and here is a
Japanese who clearly must be aware of him and his place in our history to name
a ship after him.  I am sure that over 99% of Americans couldn't identify a
similar character from Japanese history, especially one from several centuries
ago.

> Your next mission, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out why
> anyone would name a ship "Bang Goo."  In the event of your capture, the
> secretary will disavow any knowledge of your mission.  This MSG will
> self destruct in ten seconds :)
> P.S.  My guess is that it is the worst misspelling of "van Gogh" in
> recorded history, though it would be more believable if it had a strange
> paint job like the "Mauria."
 
I find this hard to believe, what with the Japanese fascination with van Gogh.
Did you see Kurosawa's "Dreams", and the amazing van Gogh segment in it?  No,
my guess is it is probably a misspelling of some famous Chinese character.

==============================================================================
"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder (sic) Ort, bleibt das Tun    |       Walter Amos
  der Menschen das gleiche..." - Galactic Heroes II   |      amos@sedl.org