Re: Word of the day: ?Papoose?

On Tue, 03 Sep 2024 08:31:50 +0100, Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net>
wrote:
 

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Ar an dara lá de mí Méan Fómhair, scríobh Steve Hayes:
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On Sun, 01 Sep 2024 15:39:20 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:
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So it seems that people within the US understand "papoose" as referring
to a child, and outside the US it refers to a child holder?

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Please...write "some people".
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If I see an (American) Indian with a baby in a carrier strapped to her
back, I would describe that as a woman with a papoose.
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However, if she removes the baby from the carrier and puts the baby on a
blanket on the ground, I would not say the baby is a "papoose".
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You seem to want "people" in the US to all view things the same.

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The OP said (I think quoting a dictionary or some such source) that in AmE
"papoose" meant a child, but everyone from outside the US whose comments
I have seen seems to think it means a child holder.

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The OP described that the word was new to him, explained that he had come
across it in a context where it described a child holder, and pasted the
definition from Wikipedia, which prioritises the “child” meaning. The OP has no
strong feelings on whether it means a child or a child holder, but comments
that the child holder meaning is more useful in that this type of
tightly-binding back-boarded structure has no other common word to describe it.

 Yes, 'twas the Wikipedia reference that gave me the impression that
the "child" usage was common in the USA,

and, as Peter Moylan points
out, in Australia. Elsewhere it seems to be understood primarily as a
child holder.