Leaders at Loggerheads: Presidents George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac found themselves at loggerheads at the Sea Island Summit when the leaders disagreed over amounts of debt reduction for Iraq and the appropriate role of NATO forces in country after turnover of sovereignty at the end of the month.

But great minds at this G8 summit were focussed not only on foreign affairs, but also on environmental concerns, according to the government website.

In keeping with President Bush's emphasis on environmental quality, the 2004 G8 Summit will showcase the complementary benefits of environmental stewardship and a strong economy.

One of the key objectives of the 2004 G8 Summit Planning Organization is to ensure that the activities supporting the planning and execution of the Sea Island Summit enhance the environmental assets of the greater Sea Island and Savannah areas.

Because giant sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches around Sea Island, trying to get themselves off the endangered species list, it was a great opportunity to "moniker" the migration of eight loggerhead sea turtles with Global Positioning Systems--and names.

Elementary school children from across the state submitted names for the sea turtles in honor of the countries participating in the G8 Summit, which are the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, and Russia. The G8 Summit is scheduled for June 8 – 10, 2004 on Sea Island, Georgia.

“Naming these sea turtles will raise awareness about the upcoming G8 Summit and increase recognition of the Georgia coast and its importance to species such as loggerhead sea turtles,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “The sea turtles will be nesting on Georgia’s beaches during the G8 Summit, and special training has been provided to law enforcement personnel about the sensitivity of the coastal ecosystem including the nesting habits of this threatened species.”

Over 1,200 Georgia students in kindergarten through fifth grade took part in the sea turtle naming contest. The contest provided an opportunity for the classes to learn more about each of the eight participating G8 countries, including language, history, notable people, and culture. The entries were submitted to DNR who selected the eight winning names.

United States -- Cherokee Rose (Georgia ’s state wildflower)
France -- Bon Jour (means “Good Morning” in French)
Germany -- Ormanda (means “of the sea” in German) [*]
Japan -- Oki (means “open sea” in Japanese)
United Kingdom -- Tea Cake
Italy -- Bellissima (means “most beautiful” in Italian)
Canada -- Aurora (for “Northern Lights”)
Russia -- Cherepakha (means “turtle” in Russian)

Now that you know each of them by name, you can track the migration of these loggerhead sea turtles throughout the nesting season.

Update 6/12/04: An interesting follow-on post by a Language Loggerhead (a Wordlabber with a degree in linguistics) elucidates the semantic morphology of the word:

Loggerhead is one of those complex words that seems to be work pretty well, despite being at best quasi-compositional for most of us. For most of my life, it was a sort of a double "cranberry morph" for me, since the only living meaning of logger -- someone who cuts down trees -- seems irrelevant except as a dimly resonant association, and the connection with head is almost equally obscure.

In his otherwise thorough analysis, the linguist did not comment on the variation of loggerhead in the southern dialect, lager head, which was probably as descriptive of the Sea Island Summit delegates as the turtles.

Harbor Island is a sleepy little oceanfront community that exudes relaxation and rejuvenation. While they do have tennis courts and swimming pools, we prefer sandy beach strolls, chicken-on-a-string crabbing, and watching the lager head sea-turtle hatchlings make their way to the ocean.

This description from "High on Life in South Carolina's Low Country" conjures up images of drunken turtles stumbling across the beach. Isn't language wonderful?