A Conversation for The History of Wave Surfing
eskimo snow
schweini Started conversation Feb 28, 2002
just wanted to say that eskimos actually DON'T have that many words for snow.
quoting Pinker's "Language Instinct":
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Speaking of anthropological canards, no discussion of language and thought would be complete without the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax. Contrary to popular belief, the Eskimos do not have more words for snow than do speakers of English. They do not have four hundred words for snow, as has been claimed in print, or two hundred, or one hundred, or forty-eight, or even nine. One dictionary puts the figure at two. Counting generously, experts can come up with about a dozen, but by such standards English would not be far behind, with snow, sleet, slush, blizzard, avalanch, hail, hardpack, powder, flurry, dusting, and a coinage of Boston's WBZ-TV meteorologist Bruce Schwoegler, snizzling.
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....and being a part-time linguist myself, i'd be interested in any more info regarding those hawaiian words for surfing.
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eskimo snow
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