The names for snow

February 26, 1987

The names for snow, as snownames go, Are more than twelve in Eskimo. They must have all the standard ones like sleet And slush, and blizzard, whiteout, hardpack, Granular, cornstarch, powder, dust, and crust. Do they have crystaldiamondglint, Iceblade, razorsharp, crumbly, Honeycombmeltinsunlight? Salt and pepper snow? Meltintoyourmittenssnow? Trickledownyournecksnow? Dogjumpupandcatchinhismouthsnow? Snowpudding, snowsofyesteryear, Kilimanjarosnow? Snowweighsdownbranches, treeleanssidewayssnow? Clickonyourwindowsnow? Filter-through-open-slit-car-windowsnow And-sift-onto-the-driver's-bucketseat? Noschooltodaysocurlbackintobed Andsnoozeawhileyetsnow? Makeasnowmansnow? Only-visible-in-streetlight-mothsnow? They may have all these and more And still not have Emergency-parking-regulations-go-into-effectAt-midnight-on-all-major-arteries-snow. Keep polishing the old vocabulary, Eskimos, Ready to add a few more names for snows.