Hi Tweets,

Gerald Hamilton writes:

Why do they call this a *refuge*
>when hunters are allowed to shoot ducks and geese 31/2 months of the
>year??????? Maybe I have the wrong interpretation of the true meaning of
>the words *wildlife refuge*. It certainly *isn't* a refuge to the
>wildlife involved during this period!!!}

Hunters' English, Gerald. Before we cast stones about arbitrarily applied
definitions and semantic contradictions, remember birders have a similar
Birders' English: Fall Migration that begins just after the Summer Solstice
and is mostly done by the time of the Fall Equinox, males in 'Non-Breeding'
Plumage can father young, 'Winter' Plumage you can see on some species in
spring, summer and fall, 'Winter' species first appearing in August and not
leaving until mid-May (only a few weeks before the beginning of the Fall
Migration) etc. No big stretch to allow hunters into a place where they can
shoot wildlife and call it a wildlife refuge. English, particularly
Government English, is so malleable--that is both its power and its woe.

However, there is a qualitative difference. The birding examples are simply
semantically amusing/irritating inconsistencies. To call a place where
killing wildlife takes place a 'refuge' is not just semantic sloppiness: it
is a bald lie. And it is a lie in intent and practice. It's simple: a refuge
that cannot or does not protect is not a refuge. Calling it one does not
make it so; it needs, then, to be called something that describes its true
nature more accurately. That the arbitrary application of the term 'refuge'
to a killing ground has government sanction does not excuse that perversion
of language. But, hey, government ignorance of and contempt for the
integrity of language is nothing new: 'War is peace.' as an obscure British
writer, a Mr. Orwell, once mordantly pointed out in his essay on Government
English, Nineteen Eighty-four.

>>No Canada Geese(Duskies mostly) have arrived yet

Any day now. First good NW wind should bring them into the region.
Apparently, we're going to get a pasting Wednesday from an intense Pacific
Low rumbling towards us out of the ocean toward us with storm-force winds
and a *ton* of rain (forecasting *100mm*, or 4 inches, for the W Coast of
Vancouver Is.). That warm water can fuel some pretty robust storm systems.
I'd guess that the geese will be riding down on the NW'erlies behind it when
the ridge builds up. So, Thursday or Friday, say.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net