Inukshuk

Look at this, I said to Piny the Elder this morning. It is a photogaph of an Inukshuk.

It looks like a pile of stones, said Pliny.

Yes it is a pile of stones, I said, but it is in the shape of a person. I googled Inukshuk. It's Inuit for something that performs the function of a person.

So it is, said Pliny, looking closely. But the photographer, if you care to read his text, does not claim it is an Inukshuk, but that it is like an Inukshuk.

I suppose it can't be an Inukshuk unless it functions as one, I said thoughtfully.

But what is the function of an Inukshuk? Pliny asked.

Well, it seems the Inuit made them for navigational purposes, or as memorials, or to indicate a migration route or a place where fish could be found.

This one is in Northumberland, said Pliny, but it could still serve one of those functions. Perhaps there is a fish under it.

Do you think that would make it an Inukshuk? I asked.

Pliny thought for a minute. No, he said finally, but it would make it more like one.