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Lost tent story!!..........
So I went to the V festival in England a couple of years ago, had a few too many beers and finished the night off with a great set by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. By this time I'd lost all my friends and the battery on my phone had died a couple of hours ago. I stumbled back to my tent and was surprised at how easily and quickly I'd found it. I put it down to the bright blue outer sheet and the fact that my sleeping bag was bright red which could be seen clearly as I was sleeping in the porch area at the front due to 3 of us sharing a two-man tent.
Anyway, after a pretty deep sleep I was woken by some guy asking who I was and why I was sleeping in his friend Dave's sleeping bag and come to think of it, did I know where Dave was?! I realised I'd found the wrong tent, although it was exactly the same model. The sleeping bag however, was only really similar in colour. I made my apologies and informed him that I had no idea where Dave was and explained my mistake. The time was about 7am and it took me about an hour to find my tent.
When I finally got there I noticed my sleeping bag looking far bigger than I remembered it. I soon realised someone had made the same mistake as me and was snoring away in my sleeping bag. My friends were completely unaware of the situation inside the tent and could also be heard snoring loudly. I awoke the person in my sleeping bag and told him that I was sorry but could I have my sleeping bag back. He was very apologetic and said he was sure it was his last night but now realised that although the tent was the same model, the sleeping bag was only similar in colour. I asked him if his name was Dave and the look on his face was priceless!! I explained how we had managed to swap tents without either of us realising. We said our goodbyes and I never saw Dave again.
The following night I managed to locate my tent after attaching a piece of white cloth on top so that I didn't make the same mistake again!!
Andrew Strong
Visste du att Eskimåerna har 70 ord för snö?
Till att börja med så finns det visserligen ett språk som heter just "grönländska" och som är officiellt språk på Grönland, men det utgörs av dialekter som jämkats ihop: "till grund för standardgrönländskan ligger de mest talade västgrönländska dialekterna", som NE skriver. Det ingår i den s.k. eskimåisk-aleutiska språkfamiljen, andra språk där är östgrönländska, yupik i Alaska och några till. Inget av dessa språk har massor av ord för "snö".
Här är en lista med snö-relaterade ord i språket yupik.
qanuk | snöflinga |
kaneq | frost |
kanevvluk | fin snö/fint regn |
natquik | drivsnö |
nevluk | "klibbig" snö |
aniu | snö på marken |
muruaneq | djup mjuk snö |
qetrar | skare |
nutaryuk | nysnö |
qanisqineq | snö som flyter på vattnet |
qengaruk | snödriva |
utvak | snöblock |
navcaq | snöformation som snart faller samman |
pirta | snöstorm |
pirtpag | hård snöstorm |
Några variationer finns, ex.vis kan aniu även skrivas apun, flera av orden finns bara i dialekter av yupik, och här finns även några ord som bara är relaterade till begreppet (t.ex. snöstorm), men poängen är att hur man än räknar så blir det inte många fler ord än så här.
(En anledning till att denna myt överlevt är naturligtvis att grönländska behärskas av så få; de eskimåisk-aleutiska språken hade under 90-talet drygt 80 000 talare.)
Referens:
Steven A. Jacobson, Yupik Esikmo dictionary