This weekend, we had a pretty bad snowfall!
For us it doesn’t really matter what kind of snow it is, it simply restricts what we do. (However, I think it looks very pretty!)
While we believe there is only one kind of very annoying snow, we have all heard that Inuit have a lot of words for snow. But is that actually true?
It is interesting to note that the myth is actually not true! There is one simple answer to why we believe in the myth.
“Steven Pinker, in his brilliant ‘The Language Instinct’, notes that the ideas could not have originated with anyone who has actually studied the Yupik and Inuit-Inuoiaq languages spoken from Siberia to Greenland. Apparently, Whorf’s (Benjamin Whorf, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) teacher mentioned in 1911 that there were four related root words for “snow,” Whorf exaggerated this to seven and implied that there were more. From there began the legend and its successively inflated exaggerations and misinterpretations.” [1]
As we can see, one single person can change the way humans think, and what we believe in, but we have to investigate what we are being taught, since sometimes we are fed the wrong facts which are simply due to one individual’s choice to change what they have been taught.
So I guess the lesson is to make sure we think for ourselves, but with the help of a basis given to us by our teachers.
Anyway, I’ll keep this post short, since we gotta get back to shoveling our driveways!
Happy snow fall, and cheers to many more to come!
Source:
[1] Alchin, N. 2003. London. theory of knowledge.