People are always going on about “Timbactoo“
, and I myself am guilty of using this word just because everyone else does it. I don’t know if referring to “Timbuktu” (Correct spelling) is just a South African phenomenon, but its become such an often used term in our language, I’d have thought it could be an idiom! In case its just a South African phenomenon, let me explain when this name is most often used. One would use this to explain how far, or unknown something is, like, I’m so tired feels like I’ve walked to Timbuktu and back. Or if you don’t know where something is, like the airport lost your luggage, and its probably on its way to Timbuktu (as I referred in a comment to my previous post).
If you had asked me before I’d probably have said that Timbuktu was somewhere close to Jamaica, but for interest sake I decided to Google it up. I found that Wikipedia provided quite interesting information about it. Timbaktu is a West African city, located in the country of Mali.
After looking at the photo’s on the National Geographic’s Website, and some other beautiful photo’s which I came across on Dan Heller’s page on Timbuktu, I realized that all these years my picture of Timbuktu was so wrong. I didn’t even have the vaguest idea that it was in Africa!
It is such beautiful country. Though poor and typically Northern African, it is still mysteriously beautiful.
PS. I still won’t wish for anyone’s luggage to get sent here by mistake.
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I thought it was a made up place.
LOL I’m with kuntrygirl, I did not realize that timbuktu actually existed. Kinda like “where’s that? Podunk, wherever?”
Wow, maybe podunk exists too. I better look that up.
That is beautiful though. Man, I want to go to Africa someday. I just need money.
I don’t think it’s a just a South Africa thing, I say it, and so does my mom. I’m in Texas and she in Southern California. Honestly, I think I got it from her! Honestly, I’m with Kuntrygirl and Yoshi, I thought it was a made up place!
This reminded me of a dirty joke I read in some distant past….
————————
“At the finals of the National Poetry Competition the two finalist were an unlikely pair. Finalist number one was a Harvard educated professor of literature and the winner of several previous competitions. Finalist number two was a young Marine Lcpl. from the hills of West Virginia who needed help filling out the entry form.
The final round consisted of each competitor being given the same word and having thirty seconds to complete a verse, using the word.
The Professor went first. The Judge said, ” The final word this year is ’Timbuktu’” The Prof. started thinking. Ten seconds went by. Twenty seconds. The crowd became nervous. After twenty eight seconds the Prof. began,
“Across the hot Sahara sand,
Trekked the dusty caravan.
Men on camels, two by two,
Destination- Timbuktu.”
The crowd went wild, there was no way that the Hillbilly Marine would ever top that.
The Lcpl. was brought on stage. The judge gave the word, “Timbuktu.”
The young Lcpl. looked to the sky, he thought for 10-15 seconds, stepped up to the microphone, cleared his throat, and began,
“Tim ’en me, a-huntin went,
Met three girls in a pop-up-tent,
They was three and we was two,
So, I bucked one and Tim Buck Two!”
We’ve got the saying here in Australia too!
I grew up reading a ‘Little Red Book” that spoke of both Timbuktu and Kalamazoo in it. I never thought much about either one other than it was a book for children to read. Yet, as I grew up and began traveling, I discovered that both Timbuktu and Kalamazoo are real towns here in the US although, presently, I’m not recalling which states they are in but they are both on the map somewhere in the mid-western states.
*Hugs*
~:o)
Ha…..I’ve been schooled today.
I too have been guilty of using the word without really knowing it’s origins.
lolz @@” timbuktu.. :O in my last company we actually used this software called timbuktu to troubleshoot PC without being infront of it.. means from a far
ahhaha..