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Just one, as long as it’s a big tree trunk. This is how the so-called pirogue is made, used on the American continent long before the arrival of Columbus. The traditional indigenous technique consists of hollowing out the trunk – usually using fire – until its interior can hold one or more people. Another primitive model, the kayak of the Eskimos, does not even use wood: only whale bones, forming a structure covered with seal skin. Modern canoes are made with dozens of boards of different sizes. But, if the origin of this vessel is lost in history, the expression that is usually said in a threatening tone – “I will show you how many sticks a canoe is made of!” – is relatively recent. “It is believed that the original phrase, used in rural areas of Brazil, spoke in cangalha, instead of canoe”, says etymologist Deonísio da Silva, from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR).
The yoke is a wooden triangle placed around the pigs’ neck, so that they do not cross fences or destroy crops. “In riverside or seaside regions, this piece may have been replaced by small canoes, which would explain the origin of the expression”, says Deonísio.
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