
White Words - panic
https://popula.com/2019/02/11/white-words/
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AlexTWithBeard
The article in one sentence: saying that Eskimo have fifty words for snow is
like saying that Europeans have fifty words for water (water, river, lake,
dew, fog, cloud, ice and so on).

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peteretep
If you enjoyed this summary, you might also enjoy:

Titanic: boat sinks

The New Testament: man killed

Crime and Punishment: Russians

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ikeyany
> Crime and Punishment: Crime and Punishment

Come on now, the joke practically writes itself.

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hyperpallium
Excessively literal. But it's one way to direct research, like James Burke's
_Connections_
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/department/connections/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/department/connections/)

I always read _Eskimos have 50 words for snow_ not as a statement about
Eskimos, but that if you deal with something a lot, you'll know more about it.
Similar: _the novice and expert see not the same tree_ or _Melbournians have
50 words for rain._

And not _literally_ "unthinkable" to not have those words, but that it would
be silly not to.

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SwiftyBug
I really like how this article sounds like it's been written by Lemony
Snicket.

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hyperpallium
Which here means...?

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ncmncm
"Good"

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tsherr
"If in this I have been tedious, it may be some excuse, I had not time to make
it shorter."

This writer could spend some time with Strunk and White.

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ncmncm
You seem to be referring to "The Nasty Book", designed to make people insecure
about the quality of their writing.

Google it. I'll wait.

The essay is thoughtful, nuanced, and not easily summarized. Poison for modern
readers, savory for patient readers.

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AnimalMuppet
I Googled it, which was completely uninlightening.

I _presume_ that you meant some kind of a diss on Strunk & White. It may make
people insecure about the quality of their writing, but it does so _in order
to show them how to be better_.

As for _this_ essay... you may like it. I want to take away their keyboard
until they learn how to stop wasting my time.

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jccalhoun
Is the author getting paid by the word? It is trying to be conversational or
something but it just needs to get to the point.

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egwynn
This was long and somewhat meandering, but offered a much more thorough
explanation of the “50 words for snow” factoid’s saga than I’d ever heard
before. For that, I’m happy I read the whole thing.

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mesozoic
Wow! What a long and pointless article.

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romanpoet
Stopped reading after being informed that my thinking the word "Eskimo", which
the author zerself used, is offensive.

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mc32
This whole article is about disproving the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis. While not
entirely convinced, I do believe people tend to overemphasize it. In other
words with a little effort it can be escaped.

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roel_v
Did you make it to the end (I'll admit, not an easy feat)? Because that's not
what it's about at all.

