@blaineg Truly a case of laugh and then think. I think I need to go get some medicinal ice cream. Haven’t decided on the malady to be treated though.
And I think I would like to have a rubber moose.
@werehatrack Are you sure about that?
I didn’t know about any mixed names other than reindeer/caribou and bison/buffalo, so I had to look it up. But I’m also lazy, so it’s not like I’ve put hours of research into this.
Anyway, as I now understand it, what we (North Americans) call a “moose” should probably be called an elk, because most other European languages have a similar-sounding word. But because moose-elk were extinct in England for so long, they forgot what a real elk/moose is, and just thought of it as a large deer. So when English people moved here and saw the wapiti (which is very like a large deer) they called it an “elk.” And then they saw a moose and had to come up with a new name for it. (possibly after emptying a few bricks out of their trousers, though that’s just speculation on my part)
In short, what Americans call a “moose” is called an “elk” elsewhere, even in England. Or so I’m told.
(kinda like how American bison get called “buffalo” despite no particular similarity to actual [water] buffalo)
But the original question was about “are Swedish ‘moose’ what we call caribou?” And I didn’t find anything to support that. All I found was evidence that “Swedish ‘elk’ are probably what we call moose.”
I’ll readily admit that I ended my research pretty early due to being overwhelmed with changing my world view. I already knew about caribou and reindeer, and bison vs buffalo, but I wasn’t prepared for this whole elk-moose-wapiti fiasco. I’m will to readjust my worldview again tomorrow if it turns out that I’m still wrong.
The current Wikipedia page was edited by an idiot. If somebody hasn’t already done it by then, I’ll try to remember to dig out my password and revert it to a prior version in the morning.
@xobzoo
Scratch part of that. After a little more research, it turns out that the word elk refers to two different animals depending upon where you are. Our moose is the European elk. Except where they call it a moose, which merely adds to the confusion. The newspaper article is correct concerning North American usage. Here, the elk is the thing with pointy antlers and a narrow muzzle. In Europe, the elk is the thing with spatulate antlers and the broad, very nose heavy muzzle. And Sweden has lots of elk/moose. By the way, the swedish word for moose is alg, which appears to anglicize to elk. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, that wasn’t made clear by the information I was finding. But either way, yes, what we call a moose is what they were imitating with their crash test dummy. Apparently, there are a hell of a lot more moose in Sweden than just about anywhere else. And the hunting season just cannot seem to control them.
@detailer
I’m sure the Swedes would be delighted if you were to engage in extensive research into this topic, requiring lots and lots and lots of samples for testing.
@blaineg Truly a case of laugh and then think. I think I need to go get some medicinal ice cream. Haven’t decided on the malady to be treated though.
And I think I would like to have a rubber moose.
@mehcuda67 Remember, that’s a Swedish moose, which is the critter that North Americans call “caribou” (or elk).
@mehcuda67 @werehatrack
A Møøse once bit my sister …
Also:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a22604428/what-happens-when-you-actually-hit-a-moose-volvo-has-a-moose-strike-test-for-that/
@werehatrack Are you sure about that?
I didn’t know about any mixed names other than reindeer/caribou and bison/buffalo, so I had to look it up. But I’m also lazy, so it’s not like I’ve put hours of research into this.
Anyway, as I now understand it, what we (North Americans) call a “moose” should probably be called an elk, because most other European languages have a similar-sounding word. But because moose-elk were extinct in England for so long, they forgot what a real elk/moose is, and just thought of it as a large deer. So when English people moved here and saw the wapiti (which is very like a large deer) they called it an “elk.” And then they saw a moose and had to come up with a new name for it. (possibly after emptying a few bricks out of their trousers, though that’s just speculation on my part)
In short, what Americans call a “moose” is called an “elk” elsewhere, even in England. Or so I’m told.
(kinda like how American bison get called “buffalo” despite no particular similarity to actual [water] buffalo)
But the original question was about “are Swedish ‘moose’ what we call caribou?” And I didn’t find anything to support that. All I found was evidence that “Swedish ‘elk’ are probably what we call moose.”
I’ll readily admit that I ended my research pretty early due to being overwhelmed with changing my world view. I already knew about caribou and reindeer, and bison vs buffalo, but I wasn’t prepared for this whole elk-moose-wapiti fiasco. I’m will to readjust my worldview again tomorrow if it turns out that I’m still wrong.
@mehcuda67 I have a vinyl (blow up) reindeer, does that count?
@werehatrack @xobzoo Video, including slo-mo of the test Moose.
@xobzoo https://www.ouraynews.com/feature-coverage/elk-or-moose-here-are-some-tips-how-tell-difference
The current Wikipedia page was edited by an idiot. If somebody hasn’t already done it by then, I’ll try to remember to dig out my password and revert it to a prior version in the morning.
@xobzoo
Scratch part of that. After a little more research, it turns out that the word elk refers to two different animals depending upon where you are. Our moose is the European elk. Except where they call it a moose, which merely adds to the confusion. The newspaper article is correct concerning North American usage. Here, the elk is the thing with pointy antlers and a narrow muzzle. In Europe, the elk is the thing with spatulate antlers and the broad, very nose heavy muzzle. And Sweden has lots of elk/moose. By the way, the swedish word for moose is alg, which appears to anglicize to elk. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, that wasn’t made clear by the information I was finding. But either way, yes, what we call a moose is what they were imitating with their crash test dummy. Apparently, there are a hell of a lot more moose in Sweden than just about anywhere else. And the hunting season just cannot seem to control them.
@werehatrack Awesome, thanks. I’m not going crazy [more than usual], and I still learned things!
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
Is chocolate moose medicinal
@detailer
I’m sure the Swedes would be delighted if you were to engage in extensive research into this topic, requiring lots and lots and lots of samples for testing.