Re: a might 'confused', was VNMP 40th Anniversary Hike
Rodger Morris (rlm@SUNED1.NSWSES.NAVY.MIL)
Wed, 1 Mar 1995 19:28:08 PST
>At 03:55 PM 2/26/95 -0500, Steven P. Elwart wrote:
>>We only had two incidents. One Scouter who sprained his ankle, and three Boy
>>Scouts that swore they weren't lost, just a bit "confused" for an hour. My
>>wife Inez, the Cub Scout Commissioner, found the boys and was so pleased that
>>a "Den Mother" as the Park Ranger called her was the one who found the boys.
>
>This reminds me of a story mentioned in the BSA Handbook. When Davy
>Crockett was in Congress, somebody asked him whether he ever lost. He
>thought about it for a moment before responding, "Nope, but I was a might
>confused once for about a week."
>
>
...
That quote is almost correct. Mr. Crockett was actually reported as saying
that he "...was a mite bewildered...". The primary meaning of the word
"bewilder" today is to become confused or befuddled. The secondary meaning
(primary meaning during the early 1800s), which Mr. Crockett probably had in
mind, is to lose one's bearings in the out of doors.
The root word, "wilder", means, "1. To lose one's way 2. To become bewildered"
The word "bewildered" has changed in primary meaning over the past couple of
centuries. Thus, Mr. Crockett said that he had lost his bearings in the
wilderness for days on end, but that he wasn't lost in the sense of being
unable to eventually re-establish his bearings.
Having said that, the thrust of the statement attributed to Mr. Crockett in
the Boy Scout Handbook is as true now as it was then, in my considered
professional opinion as a former C-130 overwater navigator (in my younger
and wilder days).
I refer you to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, albeit I must confess that I
consulted "Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary" to refresh my
memory, since my unabridged dictionary was not near at hand.
As I tell my Scouts when I am teaching them land navigation, "Take your time
and do it right, even if it _does_ take another few seconds."
I trust the foregoing has not been a waste of bandwidth.
Yours in Scouting,
Rodger
Rodger Morris, rlm@suned1.nswses.navy.mil
Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 852, Ventura County Council (CA), BSA
National Woodbadge 416, Philmont, 1973
"I used to be a Beaver..."
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
