Monday, September 3, 2007

Liklik helicopter


Yesterday a liklik (small) helicopter was giving joy rides to guests of the resort next door. I waved but didn’t get a berth!!!

We think it was one of the helicopters used on the massive fishing trawlers that we get up here; they are used as tuna spotters.

The pidgin word for helicopter is helicopter. When I first came up here some people told me that the pidgin word for helicopter was mixmaster-bilong-god but this is a myth. The locals here have seen more helicopters than Mixmasters. I have heard it said it would be more likely that a Mixmaster would be called a helicopter-bilong-misis (white woman’s helicopter) than the other way around.

But it is descriptive isn’t it?

16 comments:

Tom said...

Loverly pictures Jules,
I can't wait to shout out 'Liklik' when I next see a helicopter... I just hope I'm eating an ice-cream at that time

lv2scpbk said...

This is a neat photo.

quintarantino said...

Heard about that strange language... guess it was in NG... not sire...
So free rides, hein? And they weren't kind enough to take you... Really rude...

CaBaCuRl said...

Ahh...allergic to wattle, then??

Ann (MobayDP) said...

Oh what a pity they wouldn't pick you up and give you a joy ride. I so would have loved to see your pictures taken from the helicopter! :-D

julia said...

mixmaster...love that quaint liklik idea. give us more of those sayings. And locally it was a day for the wantokes was it?

Annie said...

It IS a good name for the thing. Have you, white woman, ever flown in a copter? It's great fun so do if you can.

Marie said...

Beautiful photos and funny adjective. I will keep it in mind. It coud apply for something else than a helicopter, wouldn't it? :-))

Two days ago we had an helicopter and canadairs above our heads here. There were fires in the "bush" close to where I live.

Jules said...

annie - yes I have it was amazing when I eventually opened my eyes!!!

In pidgin a PNG woman is called "meri" but an expatriate woman is called "misis"

ann - yes it would have been great - will do it one day though!!!

marie - liklik means small and yes it can be used for anything that isn't big.

Jilly said...

Two great photos.

Vicky Hugo said...

Aha! A resort! A helicopter! I love both of those. Maybe you can convince me to get to PNG yet. It IS on my Life List, after all.

What is the name of resort? I'll look it up.


Happy Labor Day to al those American laborers out there!

Coy Hill said...

Looks like you missed out on some fun and a great view but you did get some nice shots of the chopper.

Anonymous said...

Neat photo. The story about the helicopter's name is probably some imaginative person's ideas. It is, a very sad tale about using helicopters for spotting the fish giving them away to be killed.

I don't much like the way things are done these days. It seems like nobody is satisfied until there are no more fish in the oceans and then somebody will come out with virtual fish to eat.

I cannot imagine life without birds and their songs or oceans without their fish or our planet without greed.

Too bad you were not able to get onto my blog this morning. I had a picture of a bird but under it was one of my "stupid comments" often posed as a question.

It said,

"Does it give you any comfort to know that wild animals were not kicked out of the Garden of Eden but human beings, made in the image of God, were?"

Jules said...

Hi Vicki - the resor tis called Rapopo
I tried to visit yesterday but I again am suffering from downloading problems will try today

Hi Jilly & Ann - i've tried for 2 days to get to you but can't download your photos or your comment page - will try again today!!!!

Chuckeroon said...

I'm rahter unhappy about those massive trawlers, and now you tell me they use helicopters too!

As usual..enjoyed the drop in...and great volcano views, too

Neva said...

Even if they didn't give you a ride..you got some great photos!