What's that Skip? There's a boy down a well?

I've got my marketing hat on today (I look good in hats... I should really wear hats more often...hmmm) - there's been a call to arms from the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia to help them come up with a palatable and exotic name for kangaroo meat. I can see their point - we don't eat pig, cow or sheep do we? Anyway given their clear weakness in the snappy-name-giving department (KIA of A for heaven's sake?!), I've been giving it some thought.

Apparently 'Marsu' (abbreviation of marsupial perhaps?) is a front runner and 'Skippy-steaks' has been categorically vetoed. Out of force of habit I went back to the Latin derivative and came up with 'Macropus' (long foot), but that's really not much more imaginative than 'Marsu', is it? Since I was ruthlessly pillaging other languages for inspiration anyway, I thought I might as well head straight to the source and try for an Aboriginal translation. 'Ganurru', meaning large black kangaroo in Guugu Yimidhirr dialect, appeals to me more. It comes from an Aboriginal mob in the cape region of Queensland, near present day Cooktown. This was the area where Captain Cook 1st landed in 1788, and thus where the European fleet was 1st exposed to Aboriginal languages. Given the phonetic similarities between the Guugu Yimidhirr term and the Anglicised version, it's generally accepted that this is where the word Kangaroo was born.

Yes, I think I like it a lot. Just like all those other foodie terms, to the average consumer it will appear to have absolutely no connection to the actual substance itself, or the animal from whence it came. So that narrows it down to 2: Ganurru or keef. Time to forward my entries methinks - fame, glory, fortune & immortality shall soon be mine!