Eskimo snow around the world
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From Iceland, via Thor Lawrence, a Zits cartoon (from a free daily newspaper) with Eskimo snow words in it:
Says Lawrence:
I have no idea what the original text said (as far as I can see the original is dated 2004), but loosely translated it goes:
Pane 1. Son: When something has become a fixed part of society, language develops around it.
Pane 2. Son: Did you know that the Eskimo have 49 words for snow?
Pane 3. Father: Really?
Pane 4. Father: What does that signify? Son: I could find 50 expletives for when one's Internet connection drops!
Snow words and expletives!
[Addendum. It seems that we've been here before, back in the early days of snowclonology. Barry Ross points out that Mark Liberman posted the Zits cartoon back on 1/14/04, and referred to that posting a couple of days ago. I somehow missed the 2004 posting in my search through the Language Log archives. But it's nice to have another version of the text.]