On Mon, 28 Apr 2008, Arthur Figgis wrote:
> Tom Anderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 28 Apr 2008, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:35:17 +0100, Tom Anderson wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> What exactly is at the "Here be Goths" marker?
>>
>> A lot of goths!
>>
>> Sorry, it was a little bit of a joke. Just as ancient sea maps say "Here be
>> Dragons", to mean they don't really know what's there, i thought i'd
>> include an oblique reference to the fact that my cartography is also a bit
>> approximate.
Well, yes. What i would have said, if i wasn't so lazy, is that it's a
phrased use by modern non-serious cartographers [1] in homage to the
ancient practice of actually drawing sea monsters on bits of the ocean
that were unknown, or at least empty; a practice which was not universal,
but at least exists in more than one instance.
tom
[1] With one use on a serious map - this is how the north pole of the
asteroid Vesta is labelled on a 1997 map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twic/2450510984/
--
megaptera novae angliae, soundwork chris draper, push, pull, open, ..
