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Philip Spiess
Bruce: I second your last motion.
Ed: Just to clear the record (i.e., to be straightforward for one moment): I have never tried cocaine (even though Sherlock Holmes, one of my fictional cultural heroes, thanks to Dick Ransohoff, used it regularly); my drug of choice and general use is alcohol. Nor am I a skier; I tried it once with the Scouts, and on every turn my feet went wide ("You can't teach an old dog new tricks") -- and my ripostes occasionally go wide of the mark as well. So my cultural history diversions aren't of the "recreational" variety: they're more of the "fancy and fantasy" variety -- seeing what I can do with thought and language. "Fancy" is perhaps imagination turned slightly frivolous, in a playful mood; "fantasy" is imagination turned speculative, anticipating an unexpected and possibly questionable future, present, or past (but see T. S. Eliot's "Burnt Norton").
I didn't realize the music you play is bluegrass; my son, an occasional performer and composer, started in high school with heavy metal and classical rock music, but has moved definitely into bluegrass and Celtic folk music. Keep me informed about your recording.
Ann: Although I've heard many times that the "Eskimos" had "hundreds" ("thousands"?) of words for "snow" (far less for "Eskimo pie"), this is the first time I've actually seen any sort of list that attempts to document this assertion; thank you! But, like Bruce, I have questions: "naklin," for example -- if you've "forgotten snow," how do you remember that you've "forgotten" it? "Snow that has been marked by wolves" and "snow that has been marked by Eskimos" -- are these what we call here in the lower 48 "yellow snow," or are these just marked by footprints? "Dinliltla" -- "little balls of snow that cling to Husky fur": Does this really differ from "quinaya" or "quinyaya" -- what we would call "dingleberries," or is this the real "Eskimo pie"? "Baked snow," "fried snow," "deep fried snow," "snow burgers"? Does this put the "white" in "White Castle" hamburgers? (I'm not sure I even want to ask about "snow used by Eskimo teenagers for exquisite erotic rituals," though they are, no doubt, exquisite! Does this relate to "jatla," "snow in groin folds"? Or "erolinyat"? And how frigid are the Eskimo women -- or does "ertla" relate to Eskimo teenagers challenging each other with sexually "Frigid Dares"?) And then there's "ever-tla," "a spirit made from mashed fermented snow"; surely this is pretty much akin to "warintla" and "mextla," "snow used to make Daiquiris" and "snow used to make Margaritas" respectively? (One begins to follow the Eskimo etymology: "jamaictla" is surely "snow used by the Eskimos to make other rum drinks," and "Piscola" is either "Eskimo Andean brandy" or "yellow snow.") All of these last doubtlessly contribute to "priyakli," "snow that looks like it's falling upward." As to "tlalman" ("snow sold to German tourists"), "tlalam" ("snow sold to American tourists"), and "tlanip" ("snow sold to Japanese tourists" -- catch the etymological reference to "Nipponese" in this last one!) -- Bruce, I'm with you! Where in the hell are these tourists putting this snow to carry back home? In their "groin folds"? This is either "schlim" or "hahatla" (you've got the glossary above -- look it up)! As for "tla-na-na" and "Depptla," this sounds like "craptla"! I think at least half of this list, given that the terms are Pidgin Eskimo -- half Eskimo and half English -- is a set-up by a pranking anthropologist -- witness the term hidden in the middle of the list: "wa-ter," "melted snow"!
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