Editor's Corner

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

As promised, today I give you the second portion of the Daily Writing Tips weather synonyms. I was thinking about the saying that Eskimos have 50 or 100 words for snow, and I was wondering how we stacked up against that. I somehow got sidetracked, because, there is a giant discussion about that saying. Rather than providing you with the arguments about Eskimo language, I have a little information from a Washington Post article on that topic:

"Central Siberian Yupik has 40 such terms, while the Inuit dialect spoken in Canada’s Nunavik region has at least 53, including “matsaaruti,” for wet snow that can be used to ice a sleigh’s runners, and “pukak,” for the crystalline powder snow that looks like salt."

Well, they certainly win, since I only have ten words and none of them are as cool as pukak!

1. blizzard: a long, severe snowstorm

2. flurry: a brief, light fall of snow

3. hail: small balls or lumps of ice and snow (also, something that suggests the impact of hail, such as a hail of bullets)

4. hailstorm: a storm that produces hail

5. ice storm: a freezing rain that leaves ice deposits

6. northeaster (or nor’easter): a rain storm or snowstorm occurring in New England that originates in the northeast

7. sleet: frozen or partly frozen rain

8. snow: ice crystals that fall as precipitation

9. snowstorm: a storm that produces snow

10. spit: a brief, slight, and perhaps intermittent fall of rain or snow

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

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