Have you ever wondered what alcatraz means?

[Xipe Totec]

This is an alcatraz.



And this is also an alcatraz



and these are alcatraces



and this is alcatraz



I never realized before how many different meanings the word has.

[Aristus]

1. "Island of pelicans"

I knew that when I was 7 years old...

[Xipe Totec]

2. Among other things

and there are ten types of birds, all related to pelicans, that are called alcatraces.

Alcatraz Atlántico
Alcatraz Australiano
Alcatraz Blanco
Alcatraz Camanay
Alcatraz de Abbott
Alcatraz de El Cabo
Alcatraz de Nazca
Alcatraz Enmascarado
Alcatraz Pardo
Alcatraz Piquero

From the archaic Spanish alcatraz, "pelican", a word which was borrowed originally from Arabic: القطرس al-qaṭrās, meaning sea eagle.

[Brother Buzz]

4. I was indroctonated with the anglicized interpretation

Pelican island. Also, Yerba Buena island (good herb) was once called goat island by the Yankee sailers.

[EFerrari]

5. My grandmother grew yerba buena, which is what she called bergamot, a kind of mint. nt

[Brother Buzz]

6. Was that the herb that grew on the island?

I know tea was brewed from it and it thrived on the island, and was coveted by the locals. Mint? Yes, that sound right, some sort of mint, and not what I assumed was common coastal sage for years.

[EFerrari]

12. I tried to figure that out last night but

"yerba buena" was a name used for different plants by different people all along the American coast. It could have been sage for some folks. In the (at the time) small Salvadoran community Mami was in ca. 1955, the ladies gave each other slips of bergamot to plant in their yards to make tea. It could have been something else entirely for people in the Chicano community and so on.

It's sort of like "holy moly" insofar as everyone knows the nickname but can't agree on what the plant itself is.

[Xipe Totec]

15. Yerba buena is peppermint as far as I'm concerned

The name literally means "The good herb"

[Lionel Mandrake]

3. In the old days, if a fishing boat got too close to Alcatraz,

the guards would fire a shot across the bow and announce in a very loud voice:

"YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO THE ISLAND. CHANGE COURSE IMMEDIATELY"

[SCantiGOP]

9. My Dad worked at the Savannah River Plant

near Aiken SC, where, among other things, tritium and plutonium was produced for our nuclear weapons (that's why the locals called it 'the bomb plant'). Several times a year there would be a story of a private plane accidently flying into it's air space, and jets from a nearby air base would escort the plane back to the base. If the pilot didn't respond immediatley, they would fire in his direction to get his attention.

[HopeHoops]

7. The opposite of alkaseltzer.

One night in that place would give you indigestion.

[pink-o]

8. I have never been to Alcatraz

Yeah, yeah...lived in SF most of my life--but how many native New Yorkers have never been to the top of the Empire State Building?

I did get close once: my friend got married on the Hornblower Yacht and we came around the back of the island. Also, when I was a freshman in high school, the Native Americans occupied it for a few weeks, and we raided my mother's pantry and brought food to the pier in SF, where the boats took it over.

I guess I never had any interest in going inside a prison. Even a famous one.

[Bake]

10. Why, no. No I haven't.

And now I don't have to.



Bake

[Major Nikon]

11. My Alcatraz Island pictures

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10361651

[Xipe Totec]

16. How beautiful! Thank You!

[KamaAina]

13. You missed one

Yup, that's Alcatraz Avenue, which runs near the border between Oakland and Berkeley.

[Xipe Totec]

14. I'm sure there are many more....

But thank you!