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For those who don't like historical studies or find them boring, you can leave now :P

Right, now that those who are uninterested are gone, let's talk about history !

Many of you may know this tongue-twister, be it from your parents or your English teacher 

-"She sells sea-shells by the seashore."

It seems like a really simple, a sentence used to practice pronunciation of words starting with "s". Well, there's actually hidden history behind this simple sentence.

Enter, the Princess of Paleontology, Mary Anning.

Not a familiar name, isn't it ?

Well, Mary Anning was the first person to discover a variety of fossils, from the ichthyosaurus to raptors. Although, her discoveries were not credited to her at the time, and few know about her name now... Many people did not know the existence of dinosaurs at the time, and so when fossils as such were debated in the halls of society regarding on what it is, or what it used to be, but never who found it. 

She grew up like her father, a person who collects eccentric objects on the beach, e.g interesting looking seashells, whatever that might have washed up on shores.  Hence, the sentence, she sells sea-shells by the seashore.  Living in a poor family, she sold every fossil to wealthy collectors which in return took credit for the fine, which Mary learnt to resent. 

She had a total of 5 major discoveries on the beaches near her home. But as the more and more frequently seen fossils were dug out, her sales on the fossils reduced. The members of the Geological Studies of London didn't give her the recognition she deserve... and so now, we only know her as the woman who sold sea shells by the seashore.

Anyway, thanks for reading this poorly written blog-post. 

Cheers,
Chua.

Comments

  1. Kiran4 August 2018 at 19:56

    This is a very creative thing to talk about. Thank you for enlightening me with a small history lesson! I had no idea who Mary was till this very day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nightshade2 November 2018 at 03:34

    Wow, I never knew that the tongue twister "She sells sea-shells by the seashore" was based on Mary Anning's life and job until reading your post. This was an informative and great write-up on the history of someone that contributed to the geological study of fossils.

    ReplyDelete

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