Every read the Straight Dope? The pre-cable Mythbusters with a lot fewer explosions and a lot more snark, as appropriate for the printed page.
One that I especially liked was when Cecil Adams covered the idea that the Eskimos had many many words for snow and we just had one. In essence, yeah, the Inuit do have many, in a German-like compound sense. But, when you think about it, the English language has a great variety of words covering precipitation from blizzard to dew, not to mention the distinctions of snow that skiers use.
At the end, Cecil allows that he has been trying to create an Inuit sentence. It was so big, he stored it in his garage. I won't tell you what he meant it to say, but I will say what is said as of his writing.
Perceive the snow. It fornicates.
Today, as I trudged from the bus stop to gone on this early spring day, with the cold biting through the gloves, those words came strongly to mind.
One that I especially liked was when Cecil Adams covered the idea that the Eskimos had many many words for snow and we just had one. In essence, yeah, the Inuit do have many, in a German-like compound sense. But, when you think about it, the English language has a great variety of words covering precipitation from blizzard to dew, not to mention the distinctions of snow that skiers use.
At the end, Cecil allows that he has been trying to create an Inuit sentence. It was so big, he stored it in his garage. I won't tell you what he meant it to say, but I will say what is said as of his writing.
Perceive the snow. It fornicates.
Today, as I trudged from the bus stop to gone on this early spring day, with the cold biting through the gloves, those words came strongly to mind.
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