amyasleigh
Abominable Snowman
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2009
- Messages
- 813
A pretty trivial thing; re which, however, I’ll beg people’s indulgence. I’m an enthusiast for railways, as well as things cryptozoologic: have lately become the owner of a book, published a couple of years ago (copious pictures, fairly copious text) about railways in the north-western region of Tasmania – a temperate-rain-forest area wild and rugged, but full of great mineral wealth: hence its having been in past decades, gridded with interesting rail lines.
With my interest in “the one, and the other, thing” – I could not help hoping that this book might contain something thylacine-related: “top prize” would have been, mention of post-1936 sighting(s) by railway workers. No such luck; however, there did crop up an anecdote about a dissatisfied customer of the railway, who got angry with the crew of the train which he was using, to the point that (quoting the veteran railwayman telling the tale) “he barked and roared – he made more noise than a Tasmanian Tiger !” (From what I gather about thylacines – when they vocalised, it was plaintive; but they weren’t habitually and frequently noisy.)
At all events: that was the only thylacine reference in the book. With FTMB participants being – we would wish to think – on the whole, nice people; one would not want to wax supercilious, on the highly dubious grounds of one’s being a knowledgeable geek about arcane stuff in which most people take no interest – and why should they? However – without putting on “superior” airs – I could not help wondering what readers of this railway-related book, have made of the “Tasmanian Tiger” reference? (An exception to make, for actual inhabitants of Tasmania: one gathers that thylacine-consciousness is pretty well universal there, with the animal as a ubiquitous emblem / icon, used among other things, in the selling of many proprietary wares.)
I would suspect, re the above: a few readers would have our knowledge of the matter, and thus “get it”; a few more would feel curious and would Google or otherwise research the reference. Far more would, I suspect, let it wash over them as meaningless “stuff”; or would either from idea already held, or on-the-spot wrongly putting two and two together, reckon a Tasmanian Tiger to be something mythical, of the order of a Cheshire Cat. As said, all basically trivial; and no intention harboured, of “mocking the ignorant”: but it would be nice to be able to take a poll – just out of pure interest – of readers of the book, as to what the reference conveyed to them.
With my interest in “the one, and the other, thing” – I could not help hoping that this book might contain something thylacine-related: “top prize” would have been, mention of post-1936 sighting(s) by railway workers. No such luck; however, there did crop up an anecdote about a dissatisfied customer of the railway, who got angry with the crew of the train which he was using, to the point that (quoting the veteran railwayman telling the tale) “he barked and roared – he made more noise than a Tasmanian Tiger !” (From what I gather about thylacines – when they vocalised, it was plaintive; but they weren’t habitually and frequently noisy.)
At all events: that was the only thylacine reference in the book. With FTMB participants being – we would wish to think – on the whole, nice people; one would not want to wax supercilious, on the highly dubious grounds of one’s being a knowledgeable geek about arcane stuff in which most people take no interest – and why should they? However – without putting on “superior” airs – I could not help wondering what readers of this railway-related book, have made of the “Tasmanian Tiger” reference? (An exception to make, for actual inhabitants of Tasmania: one gathers that thylacine-consciousness is pretty well universal there, with the animal as a ubiquitous emblem / icon, used among other things, in the selling of many proprietary wares.)
I would suspect, re the above: a few readers would have our knowledge of the matter, and thus “get it”; a few more would feel curious and would Google or otherwise research the reference. Far more would, I suspect, let it wash over them as meaningless “stuff”; or would either from idea already held, or on-the-spot wrongly putting two and two together, reckon a Tasmanian Tiger to be something mythical, of the order of a Cheshire Cat. As said, all basically trivial; and no intention harboured, of “mocking the ignorant”: but it would be nice to be able to take a poll – just out of pure interest – of readers of the book, as to what the reference conveyed to them.
