Re: 7 Words That Dogs Can Understand (And 4 That No Dog Can)

On 16/03/2025 2:19 a.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:

Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
 

On 14/03/2025 11:05 p.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:

Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
>

On 14/03/25 15:28, Ross Clark wrote:

>
A little crossroads called Tirau (NZ) has a Big Dog (the tourist
information office) and a couple of Big Sheep (a souvenir shop), all
in corrugated iron. There's also a Shepherd, but he's not to scale,
and not in typical NZ costume. (He's in front of a church.)
>
https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/tirau-town.html

>
Nicely done.
>
When I visited Fiji I noticed that corrugated iron is a highly valued
construction material. I guess the native wood is unsuitable for
building, and maybe the clay is not the right sort for bricks.

>
Guess they don't have any.
You need glaciers for grinding rock to sand and clay.

>
This can't be right. There is clay suitable for pottery in Fiji and many
other Pacific islands where there have never been glaciers.

 Mud is probably a more appropriate description.

No, it's clay.

I doubt the suitability for good bricks and ceramics.

Fine. It wasn't a question about what you'd consider "good", but whether your grand generalization about clay was correct.
 > (probably more appropriately called earthenware)
"Ceramics", "pottery" and "earthenware" would all be appropriate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1766/lapita-pottery
https://collections.qm.qld.gov.au/objects/CH37961/pot

Importing timber and bricks would be hellishly expensive, I guess.

>
They've got timber. Wood and leaves were traditional house-building
materials, after all.

 Of a kind. Anything better than palm trees?

Yes. Your comments suggest you don't know much about this part of the world.

AFAIK quality timber needs to be importd.
 

Corrugated-iron houses are built on a timber frame.
Bricks? Really no point. People who can afford a fancier European-style
house will move up to concrete (with a corrugated-iron roof).

 Which must be imported in bulk too.
(and be 'hellishly expensive')

Less expensive than bricks.

 Jan