Off Monday?

[Peter Parka]

Yup! I guess it was really the red indians who must have descovered it first!

 

[Maritxu]

I always wondered about the way historians use the word "discover." How can you discover something that's already there and has been for 100s/1000s of years?! :confused

A posible answer to this is just that human beings are so self centered that believe if they didn't know something existed before, it didn't really exist.

 

[NightWarrior]

I always wondered about the way historians use the word "discover." How can you discover something that's already there and has been for 100s/1000s of years?! :confused

Does a falling tree in the woods make a sound if no one is there to hear it? The word discover is used to denote something that was found first by man. They are still discovering new species daily, mostly marine even though they have always been there. They just discovered a new Earth light years away that has been there for longer than man.

 

[NightWarrior]

A posible answer to this is just that human beings are so self centered that believe if they didn't know something existed before, it didn't really exist.

dis·cov·er

/dɪˈskʌv

ər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-skuhv-er] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object) 1.to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of (something previously unseen or unknown): to discover America; to discover electricity. 2.to notice or realize: I discovered I didn't have my credit card with me when I went to pay my bill. 3.Archaic. to make known; reveal; disclose.

I don't see anything wrong with using the word if no one has found it first. There is nothing egotistical about it.

 

[Maritxu]

Other civilizations got there before as it has been proven, but they didn't really know what they did and wrote it in the History books. I guess that's the difference between the Spanish empire and the vikings.