Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
http://www.derose.net/steve/guides/snowwords/

So how many already?
Pullum cites several sources on how many words certain Inuit dialects
actually have for snow. The two main ones a

The Dictionary of the West Greenlandic Eskimo Language (C. W.
Schultz-Lorentzen, Copenhagan: Reitzels, 1927) gives just two words:
qanik for snowflakes in the air, and aput for snow on the ground.


We don't even have that, considering that "snowflakes" is
just "snow flakes" pretending to be a single word. English
being such a flexible language, we could even make it three
words "flakes of snow." 3 + 2 plus your suggested two makes
7 words for snow! The problem is that there is really only
one word: "snow" the rest is just creative accounting.



As Pullum again points out, anyone concerned about a particular subject
has a proportionately detailed vocabulary for it.

Sure, that's elementary. For example, there are huge numbers
of odd & wonderful words for all the different parts of a boat.

Any specialized field of knowledge has it's vocabulary,
medicine, computers, etc etc. To know the field one must
master the vocabulary.


... There is little
surprising or interesting about this,


Surprising? Not to smart people, agreed.
Interesting? I guess that all depends.

.... it doesn't seem to have much
affect on communication, realism, or anything else

Horse puckey. Try discussing a medical issue with a doctor:
2/3 of the conversation will be him explaining what the
words mean. Yet to another medical professional, the
communication is efficient and accurate.



.... beyond signalling
that you are (or aren't) an expert on a precise topic:


Yep.
Tell me again, how is it that we spot the BS'ers and fakers
and wanna-bees in this newsgroup?




So if some language(s) did have many words for snow, it should be no
more interesting than these other everyday cases. But if you think about
it, people who live in ever-snowful lands may perhaps care no more about
fine variations of snow, than we in warmer climes care about fine
variations of grass or pavement: anything so constant disappears into
the background and becomes less interesting.

I disagree. We don't make a living from pavement or grass,
and they vary considerably less than snow. The Eskimos have
a very good reason for their vocabulary, just as your doctor
has a good reason for his.

Actually there are two reasons, but we don't need to go into
the second one just now.

Regards
Doug King

DSK wrote:


You know, the Eskimos have over 70 words for snow. I wonder
how many different words for "rain" they have in Seattle.

DSK


No such thing as a wordy Seattlite. :-)

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:54:36 -0500, DSK wrote:

Well, OK, maybe I exaggerate.

Then again, maybe not:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_297.html

And here is a revision of the same issue, including comments
from a native Koniaq Eskimo who calls the Straight Dope
author a dumb redneck (amusing in itself, but unfortunately
she doesn't say how many words for snow there are in her
language)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010202.html

Skiers have a pretty good snow vocabulary also, e.g.:

dry powder

deep powder

wet powder (an oxymoron)

packed powder

machine made

hard pack

granular

frozen granular

loose granular (corn)

wind blown

wind blown with crust

I'd guess that the inuit have some corresponding terms for all but the
"machine made", and maybe some that I've never encountered.

DSK wrote:
You know, the Eskimos have over 70 words for snow. I wonder
how many different words for "rain" they have in Seattle.


Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Just walk into a Starbucks and look at the board with the coffee drink
descriptions.

With that many ways to describe coffee, it has to be about a
bizillion.

Years ago, I narrowly escaped getting lynched in Seattle...
I went to a couple of different shops & street vendors
trying to buy a cup of coffee, and finally in exasperation
said out loud "All I want is a PLAIN CUP OF COFFEE!"

DSK


Times have changed, and most of the coffee snobs are out of business.
Anybody with the facilties to brew traditional coffee does so these
days.
The local Starbucks told me that drip coffee is their number one
seller.

I once ordered a cup of coffee and the barista replied, "I can make you
an Americano...."

"Too late. I was born an Americano. Right now I just want a cup of
coffee."

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:22:13 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On 27 Nov 2006 18:15:07 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:


Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
I thought it only rained out in Seattle?

~~ snerk ~~

What are you referencing?

Never mind. It's only the solid form of rain. :)

There are at least two solid forms of rain.

Well EEEXXXCCCUUUUUUSEEEEEEE MMMMEEEEE!!!!!

PRECIPITATION....

Rain - Liquid
Drizzle - liquid, light, moves with air currents
Freezing Rain - liquid until hitting a cold surface
Freezing Drizzle - see Freezing Rain
Hail - precipitation in the form of balls or irregular lumps of ice
Snow - precipitation of white or translucent ice crystals

Thus ends the meteorological portion of this post which relates to
boating because apparently it never snows in the Pacific Northwest
where they boat all year 'round.

Noted. Ignored, but noted.

DSK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
http://www.derose.net/steve/guides/snowwords/

So how many already?
Pullum cites several sources on how many words certain Inuit dialects
actually have for snow. The two main ones a

The Dictionary of the West Greenlandic Eskimo Language (C. W.
Schultz-Lorentzen, Copenhagan: Reitzels, 1927) gives just two words:
qanik for snowflakes in the air, and aput for snow on the ground.


We don't even have that, considering that "snowflakes" is just "snow
flakes" pretending to be a single word. English being such a flexible
language, we could even make it three words "flakes of snow." 3 + 2 plus
your suggested two makes 7 words for snow! The problem is that there is
really only one word: "snow" the rest is just creative accounting.



As Pullum again points out, anyone concerned about a particular
subject has a proportionately detailed vocabulary for it.

Sure, that's elementary. For example, there are huge numbers of odd &
wonderful words for all the different parts of a boat.

Any specialized field of knowledge has it's vocabulary, medicine,
computers, etc etc. To know the field one must master the vocabulary.


... There is little surprising or interesting about this,


Surprising? Not to smart people, agreed.
Interesting? I guess that all depends.

.... it doesn't seem to have much affect on communication, realism, or
anything else

Horse puckey. Try discussing a medical issue with a doctor: 2/3 of the
conversation will be him explaining what the words mean. Yet to another
medical professional, the communication is efficient and accurate.



.... beyond signalling that you are (or aren't) an expert on a precise
topic:


Yep.
Tell me again, how is it that we spot the BS'ers and fakers and
wanna-bees in this newsgroup?




So if some language(s) did have many words for snow, it should be no
more interesting than these other everyday cases. But if you think
about it, people who live in ever-snowful lands may perhaps care no
more about fine variations of snow, than we in warmer climes care
about fine variations of grass or pavement: anything so constant
disappears into the background and becomes less interesting.

I disagree. We don't make a living from pavement or grass, and they vary
considerably less than snow. The Eskimos have a very good reason for
their vocabulary, just as your doctor has a good reason for his.

Actually there are two reasons, but we don't need to go into the second
one just now.

Regards
Doug King

So how many different words do the Eskimos have for snow?

DSK wrote:
Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
http://www.derose.net/steve/guides/snowwords/

So how many already?
Pullum cites several sources on how many words certain Inuit dialects
actually have for snow. The two main ones a

The Dictionary of the West Greenlandic Eskimo Language (C. W.
Schultz-Lorentzen, Copenhagan: Reitzels, 1927) gives just two words:
qanik for snowflakes in the air, and aput for snow on the ground.


We don't even have that, considering that "snowflakes" is just "snow
flakes" pretending to be a single word. English being such a flexible
language, we could even make it three words "flakes of snow." 3 + 2 plus
your suggested two makes 7 words for snow! The problem is that there is
really only one word: "snow" the rest is just creative accounting.



As Pullum again points out, anyone concerned about a particular
subject has a proportionately detailed vocabulary for it.

Sure, that's elementary. For example, there are huge numbers of odd &
wonderful words for all the different parts of a boat.

Any specialized field of knowledge has it's vocabulary, medicine,
computers, etc etc. To know the field one must master the vocabulary.


... There is little surprising or interesting about this,


Surprising? Not to smart people, agreed.
Interesting? I guess that all depends.

.... it doesn't seem to have much affect on communication, realism, or
anything else

Horse puckey. Try discussing a medical issue with a doctor: 2/3 of the
conversation will be him explaining what the words mean. Yet to another
medical professional, the communication is efficient and accurate.



.... beyond signalling that you are (or aren't) an expert on a precise
topic:


Yep.
Tell me again, how is it that we spot the BS'ers and fakers and
wanna-bees in this newsgroup?




So if some language(s) did have many words for snow, it should be no
more interesting than these other everyday cases. But if you think
about it, people who live in ever-snowful lands may perhaps care no
more about fine variations of snow, than we in warmer climes care
about fine variations of grass or pavement: anything so constant
disappears into the background and becomes less interesting.

I disagree. We don't make a living from pavement or grass, and they vary
considerably less than snow. The Eskimos have a very good reason for
their vocabulary, just as your doctor has a good reason for his.

Actually there are two reasons, but we don't need to go into the second
one just now.

Regards
Doug King

When people are talking about snow and they use the word "powder" is
that another word for snow?

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:00:12 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:45:00 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:54:36 -0500, DSK wrote:

Well, OK, maybe I exaggerate.

Then again, maybe not:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_297.html

And here is a revision of the same issue, including comments
from a native Koniaq Eskimo who calls the Straight Dope
author a dumb redneck (amusing in itself, but unfortunately
she doesn't say how many words for snow there are in her
language)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010202.html

Skiers have a pretty good snow vocabulary also, e.g.:

dry powder

deep powder

wet powder (an oxymoron)

packed powder

machine made

hard pack

granular

frozen granular

loose granular (corn)

wind blown

wind blown with crust

I'd guess that the inuit have some corresponding terms for all but the
"machine made", and maybe some that I've never encountered.

Do golfers have a corresponding vocabulary for grass?

Enquiring minds (or in my case - empty mind) want to know.

Too high, too fast, too slow, too thick, probably more.

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 28 Nov 2006 08:44:06 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:


DSK wrote:


You know, the Eskimos have over 70 words for snow. I wonder
how many different words for "rain" they have in Seattle.

No such thing as a wordy Seattlite. :-)

Really? I thought Seattle was the home of the breathless, wordy,
world weary literary set?

"Nope!" he replied, (thereby validating his previous observation that
there is no such thing as a wordy Seattlite). :-)

Chuck Gould wrote:
Times have changed, and most of the coffee snobs are out of business.
Anybody with the facilties to brew traditional coffee does so these
days.
The local Starbucks told me that drip coffee is their number one
seller.


Wow sounds like times have changed.

I once ordered a cup of coffee and the barista replied, "I can make you
an Americano...."

"Too late. I was born an Americano. Right now I just want a cup of
coffee."


He may have been trying to offer you a date.

DSK