Date:    Wed, 18 Mar 1998 12:33:51 +0900
<br>From:    Daniel Long  dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JOHO.OSAKA-SHOIN.AC.JP 
<br>Subject: Re: mebos and zori
<br>
<br>The underwhelming response to my mebos query was not a surprise.  I had
<br>never heard the word myself, so I didn't expect a lot of other people
<br>(especially fellow North Americans) to be familiar with it.
<br>
<br>I did find the word in a 'net search.  It comes up on the shopping page
<br>of a company that sells food to South African ex-pats in Australia, for
<br>example.  (I suppose in a country where people eat vegamite, you have to
<br>import food!)  It also appears on a page of "Rhodesians Worldwide".
<br>This seems to go along with what OED says, and indicates that the term
<br>(1) is used in southern Africa, and (2) isn't used much outside of that
<br>area.  This brings us back to the "zori" idea in which we had a loanword
<br>which is a regionalism in the receiving language.
<br>
<br>Danny Long
<br>
<br>P.S.  Apologies to the Australians I've offended.  I understand from
<br>Aussie friends that y'all don't care much for peanut butter either.
<br>--
<br>Daniel Long, Associate Professor    NEW tel  +81-6-723-8297
<br>Japanese Language Research Center   NEW fax  +81-6-723-8302
<br>Osaka Shoin Women's College         dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]joho.osaka-shoin.ac.jp
<br>4-2-26 Hishiyanishi                 http://www.age.or.jp/x/oswcjlrc/
<br>Higashi-Osaka-shi, Osaka Japan 577
<br>