Perhaps we're mistaking linguistics for lingual pleasures. The U.S. talks the talk, but I'm not sure that what we talk about is what we really think is most important. Over-all, the U.S. is a repressed culture with LOTS of sexual imagery, precisely BECAUSE it's so repressed. Sex itself is relatively difficult to buy or sell in the U.S., but sex helps sell a LOT of other things here. Just because we use the "F" word constantly does not mean we really think it's an important aspect of human culture. Other cultures don't seem so interested in using similar words, but they seem more interested in actually engaging in sexual activities. I'm not a linguist, except for a few forays in Freshman English into Sapir-Worf territory, but it seems to me that we have in the U.S. a counter-example to the theory as I've understood it. To make an analogy to snow: The U.S. has so many words for "snow" and uses the "snow" word so often, that it's an indication that the U.S. is really a very arid, desert-like place where nobody's getting much "snow" at all.
Can the U.S. really "value" snow or consider it an "important aspect of human culture" if they never actually see or play in snow?
Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx wrote:
They were drinking snow. They were f-cking snow.They were sh-tting snow. Geary, 'Sapir-Whorft'. In a message dated 3/5/2009 3:49:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: It has struck me that the more common / important something is within a culture, the more words there are to communicate it. Thus the plethora of words to name sexual organs and acts and dispositions, etc. So, too, with bodily elimination and its products, there's a shitload of terminology in this regard -- who would have guessed such scatological fascination? In the same vein are the words, words, words used to describe drinking and intoxication. So I guess the 3 most important aspects of human culture are shitting and fucking and drinking.-----Next, we'll study Eskimo for 'snow': qanuk snowflakeqanir to snowqanunge to snow qanugglir to snowkaneq frost kaner be frosty kanevvluk fine snow kanevcir to get fine snow natquik snow that drifts natquigte 'for snow to drift along ground' nevluk clinging debris nevlugte dirt of snow aniu snow on groundaniu shovel snow apun snow on groundqanikcaq snow on ground qanikcir shovel snow on ground muruaneq soft snow qetrar 'for snow to crust' qerretrar 'for snow to crust'nutaryuk fresh snow qanisqineq floating snow qengaruk bank of snow utvak snow carved navcaq snow cornicenavcite get caught in an avalanche pirta blizzard pircir to blizzard pirtuk blizzard cellallir snow heavily piretepag blizzard severely pirrelvag o blizzard severelyCheers, JL
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