BobNoreen wrote:
>
> I'm wondering if any of you can help me please.
>
> When did the Broad-billed Roller (presumably its original name?)
> become the Dollarbird? and does anyone know who/how it was renamed?
>
> I assume the change to metric currency influenced the name change and
> would be interested in hearing any background on this
>
> Many thanks
> Bob
Nothing at all to do with going metric! According to "Australian Words
and their origins" (O.U.P. 1989) the name was current by 1827 - based of
course on the round white wing-mark seen in flight. At that time the
dollar known in Australia was the Spanish silver dollar - which was
punched to form the 'holey dollar' and the 'dump'. But English 19th
Century slang referred to the sum of 5 shillings or crown as a dollar,
and when I was a kid in the '40s one still sometimes heard the 5/- stake
for a bet referred to as in "I had a dollar on Rimfire".
Anthea Fleming
in Ivanhoe, Vic.
where the temp. has been about 12 all day and it's raining - heavily.
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
