Posted by Robert Dilley on November 07, 2000 at 19:08:14 from 205.189.37.81:
In Reply to: Re: For lovers of English English posted by Mike Field on November 07, 2000 at 14:14:11:
Sorry to steal Nina's thunder, but as she hasn't replied yet, I hope I will be forgiven for jumping in.
I have been using "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax" in class for years, to illustrate relationships between environment and vocabulary. Briefly, it concerns the widespread belief (widespread in North America, anyway) that the Eskimo (we Canadians call them Inuit) have hundreds -- if not thousands -- of words to describe different types of snow. This is held to illustrate how environment contributes to vocabulary. This is, in fact, entirely fallacious: the history of how this belief began and spread makes fascinating reading. For further details, see the article by Geoffrey Pullum in Lingua Franca, June 1990 (wonderfully written: eg "these lexically profligate hyperborean nomads"). Nina may know of its appearance elsewhere.