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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI Read That The Inuits...
have something like 50 words for snow! I wonder what their word is for the snow that the plow piles in front of the driveway. Or snow that weighs 50lbs. per shovelful. I just finished digging 1/4 mile out to the street and I'd like to know how the Inuits say This Snow Sucks! I'm getting too old for this!
madokie
(51,076 posts)I wouldn't even want to walk through that much snow never mind the shoveling it part.
Laxman
(2,419 posts)to the job. Either that or the blood flow to my brain was not exactly what it should be.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)Siwsan
(26,268 posts)so that I can rush outside and angrily shake my fist at him, as he piles up a wall of snow in front of my newly cleared driveway. while wearing an evil grin on his face. And then I'll dismantle the pile before it freezes into a solid block
Laxman
(2,419 posts)look like this? If he did he's the same guy who did my street!
DeadLetterOffice
(1,352 posts)This time they managed to split the 4X4 post in two.
I don't even know why we bother to fix it. They're just gonna kill it again...
Siwsan
(26,268 posts)Last year, just as I finished clearing the driveway, I watched him turn the plow and head STRAIGHT for a big pile of ice that was along the curb and doing no one any harm. He pushed it right into my driveway. This is where they angry fist shaking came into play, along with some multi-lingual cursing. A few minutes later my neighbor came walking down the street from helping another neighbor, and he and the other neighbor witnessed the SAME THING, by the SAME GUY, just as they finished clearing a driveway. I wrote a letter of complaint to the road commission but never heard back.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)as live in Florida. I've never been to florida but if it is anything like houston tx I don't want any part of it. I've read that the climate is a whole lot alike in these two. Hot, steamy and mosquitoes as big as blackbirds, No thanks
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)I lived there for a couple of years.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)Yeeeeech!
Brigid
(17,621 posts)And hurricanes!
Laxman
(2,419 posts)and your hurricanes and raise you Governor Christie and Sandy and a miserable winter! (and I still love NJ!)
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Orrex
(63,216 posts)They don't have 50 words for snow; we have one word intended to cover 50 different things.
And, as noted in the thread already, English has quite a few words for snow as well.
DeadLetterOffice
(1,352 posts)Our snow is all light and fluffy. Which is good, since there's a foot or more of it out there and it's still snowing...
Malraiders
(444 posts)meanings:
The Eskimos' Hundred Words for Snow
by Phil James
tlapa powder snow
tlacringit snow that is crusted on the surface
kayi drifting snow
tlapat still snow
klin remembered snow
naklin forgotten snow
tlamo snow that falls in large wet flakes
tlatim snow that falls in small flakes
tlaslo snow that falls slowly
tlapinti snow that falls quickly
kripya snow that has melted and refrozen
tliyel snow that has been marked by wolves
tliyelin snow that has been marked by Eskimos
blotla blowing snow
pactla snow that has been packed down
hiryla snow in beards
wa-ter melted snow
tlayinq snow mixed with mud
quinaya snow mixed with Husky shit
quinyaya snow mixed with the shit of a lead dog
slimtla snow that is crusted on top but soft underneath
kriplyana snow that looks blue in the early morning
puntla a mouthful of snow because you fibbed
allatla baked snow
fritla fried snow
gristla deep fried snow
MacTla snow burgers
jatla snow between your fingers or toes, or in groin-folds
dinliltla little balls of snow that cling to Husky fur
sulitlana green snow
mentlana pink snow
tidtla snow used for cleaning
ertla snow used by Eskimo teenagers for exquisite erotic rituals
kriyantli snow bricks
hahatla small packages of snow given as gag gifts
semtla partially melted snow
ontla snow on objects
intla snow that has drifted indoors
shlim slush
warintla snow used to make Eskimo daiquiris
mextla snow used to make Eskimo Margaritas
penstla the idea of snow
mortla snow mounded on dead bodies
ylaipi tomorrow's snow
nylaipin the snows of yesteryear ("neiges d'antan"
pritla our children's snow
nootlin snow that doesn't stick
rotlana quickly accumulating snow
skriniya snow that never reaches the ground
bluwid snow that's shaken down from objects in the wind
tlanid snow that's shaken down and then mixes with sky-falling snow
ever-tla a spirit made from mashed fermented snow,
popular among Eskimo men
talini snow angels
priyakli snow that looks like it's falling upward
chiup snow that makes halos
blontla snow that's shaken off in the mudroom
tlalman snow sold to German tourists
tlalam snow sold to American tourists
tlanip snow sold to Japanese tourists
protla snow packed around caribou meat
attla snow that as it falls seems to create nice pictures
in the air
sotla snow sparkling with sunlight
tlun snow sparkling with moonlight
astrila snow sparkling with starlight
clim snow sparkling with flashlight or headlight
tlapi summer snow
krikaya snow mixed with breath
ashtla expected snow that's wagered on (depth, size of flakes)
huantla special snow rolled into "snow reefers" and smoked
by wild Eskimo youth
tla-na-na snow mixed with the sound of old rock and roll
from a portable radio
depptla a small snowball, preserved in Lucite, that had been handled
by Johnny Depp
trinkyi first snow of the year
tronkyin last snow of the year
shiya snow at dawn
katiyana night snow
tlinro snow vapor
nyik snow with flakes of widely varying size
ragnitla two snowfalls at once, creating moire patterns
akitla snow falling on water
privtla snow melting in the spring rain
chahatlin snow that makes a sizzling sound as it falls on water
hootlin snow that makes a hissing sound as the
individual flakes brush
geltla snow dollars
briktla good building snow
striktla snow that's no good for building
erolinyat snow drifts containing the imprint of crazy lovers
chachat swirling snow that drives you nuts
krotla snow that blinds you
tlarin snow that can be sculpted into the delicate corsages
Eskimo girls pin to their whale parkas at prom time
motla snow in the mouth
sotla snow in the south
maxtla snow that hides the whole village
tlayopi snow drifts you fall into and die
truyi avalanche of snow
tlapripta snow that burns your scalp and eyelids
carpitla snow glazed with ice
tla ordinary snow
from: http://www.mendosa.com/snow.html
Raster
(20,998 posts)Inuit Words for Snow
Last Update: April 15, 2005
The Great Inuit Vocabulary Hoax is anthropology's contribution to urban legends. It apparently started in 1911 when anthropologist Franz Boaz casually mentioned that the Inuithe called them "Eskimos," using the derogatory term of a tribe to the south of them for eaters of raw meathad four different words for snow. With each succeeding reference in textbooks and the popular press the number grew to sometimes as many as 400 words.
In fact, "Contrary to popular belief, the Eskimos do not have more words for snow than do speakers of English," according to linguist Steven Pinker in his book The Language Instinct. "Counting generously, experts can come up with about a dozen."
<snip>
Dear Rick,
Thanks for sending the listit's hilarious....it is a work of a witty satirist. Indeed, it makes a serious pointsome of the entries on the serious lists of Eskimo snow words are as dubious as "wa-ter" meaning melted snow "tlan-na-na" for oldie snow on the radio.
Best,
Steve Pinker
S_B_Jackson
(906 posts)if you read through the list you can see that some of them are pure nonsense.
Still and all, I did name my Husky from this list - Shiya (Snow at Dawn).
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)The "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" ("Ballade of the Ladies of Times Past" is a poem by François Villon that celebrates famous women in history and mythology, and a prominent example of the ubi sunt? genre. It is written in the fixed-form ballade format, and forms part of his collection Le Testament.
Particularly famous is its interrogative refrain, Mais où sont les neiges d'antan? This was translated into English by Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?",[1] for which he coined the new word yester-year to translate Villon's antan. The French word was used in its original sense of "last year", although both antan and the English yesteryear have now taken on a wider meaning of "years gone by".
Tell me where, in which country
Is Flora, the beautiful Roman;
Archipiada, born Thaïs
Who was her first cousin;
Echo, speaking when one makes noise
Over river or on pond,
Who had a beauty too much more than human?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan! Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballade_des_dames_du_temps_jadis
Beach Rat
(273 posts)But I can say this without a doubt!
tridim
(45,358 posts)No shoveling necessary.
malaise
(269,054 posts)I agree.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)Dreamed I was an Eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots and around my toes
The frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero
And my mama cried
And my mama cried
Nanook, a-no-no
Nanook, a-no-no
Don't be a naughty Eskimo
Save your money, don't go to the show
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
And the northern lights commenced to glow
And she said, with a tear in her eye
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
"Mudda fucka"
applegrove
(118,696 posts)Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)My understanding is that they have an agglomerative language where you build things that are somewhere between words and sentences out of word fragments.
But don't take my word on that, it may well just be an internet factoid.
Monk06
(7,675 posts)Sucker !!!!!