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Island

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:21 pm
by Slava
I expect we all know the various meanings of this one. However, without looking it up, how many out there know its roots? The etymology is quite interesting.

Re: Island

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:20 pm
by Philip Hudson
Here is an unusual use of the word island. In parts of Florida, North central Mississippi and, I assume, in other parts of the world, there are flats covered with scrub brush dotted here and there with small hills of fertile land. These are called islands, not because they are in the water, but because they are isolated by the sea of scrub brush. You may remember in the "The Yearling" that Jody and his family lived on Baxter’s Island. In John Grisham's novel "The Last Juror", the crime family of the county lived on such an island. Some of my ancestors lived on an island in Yalobusha County, Mississippi in the mid 1800s. Family lore has it that my ancestor moved there from Washington, DC after an inglorious term in the US House of Representatives. All of Jackson’s coattail cronies were thoroughly hated by the civilized easterners. He was a compañero of Davy Crocket who went to his fate in Texas. Grandpa Williamson was self-exiled on Williamson’s Island. I have not thoroughly vetted my ancestor’s story.