Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Jun 22, 2003 09:01 AM UTC:
Ma has many Chinese meanings depending on inflection. Inflected one way it
means horse, inflected another way mother. Thereforte the confusion with
the English 'ma' is entirely appropriate, especially as the English
'mare' means a female horse. There is little connection with the Pao,
except that both pieces are used in Xiang Qi, and still less with the Vao.
They differ from pieces used from India westwards in entirely different
ways.
Two small points: were 'Dawsons' books' written by one writer called
Dawsons or several called Dawson? And why is cat the 'opposite of dog'
when the two beasts have far more in common with each other than with a
horse?