When this cache was placed I saw something moving in the long grass that made me think of a yeti. It was a very ugly dog but I couldn't help wondering what the word yeti means and where it originated so I just had to look it up when I got home.
Apparently, it's Tibetanyeh-teh meaning little manlike animal. I know that sounds like a lot to get into two syllables but it's probably something like mannikin. I don't know. I don't speak Tibetan, and the way things are going I probably never will.
What really surprised me was that they were little, but the Oxford English Dictionary insists on it and even quotes Sherpa Tensing:
He describes it as half man half beast, about five feet six inches tall, covered with reddish-brown hair but with a hairless face.
Which is rather less impressive than I had imagined. I was at school with someone like that.
The Tibetans also call them Meetoh Kangmi, which means Abominable Snowmen. This is a much older and much better name than the badly transliterated yeti.
The scientific community has generally regarded the Yeti as a legend, given the lack of evidence of its existence. In one genetic study, researchers matched DNA from hair samples found in the Himalaya with a prehistoric bear from the Pleistocene epoch.
I hope this cache doesn't proof to be as elusive as the Yeti.