“The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax” is based on a claim that the Eskimo languages have an unusually large number of words for “snow”. Early anthropologists studying language were speculating on the Eskimo-Aleut language structure that allowed variety of a root word being modified in forming a single word from a previous root word. Re-evaluation of this claim took place by a linguist determined that the number of word roots for snow is similar in Eskimoan languages and English proving there was no difference. Even today there are still those people who are ‘sitting on the fence’ as it were, to the number of words the Eskimo language has for snow.
Here are a few examples: “aput” expresses ‘snow on the ground’; “qana” is ‘falling snow’; “piqsirpoq” is ‘drifting snow’; and “qimuqauq” is ‘a snow drift’. If someone asked you to define the word “SNOW”, how would you?
To complete this challenge and find the cache, substitute the number of the answer (not the answer) for the letter of the question found in the co-ordinate:
N 51 08.ABC, W 100 03.DEF
A. What date was the first re-evaluation of the “hoax”
B. The Sami language has anywhere from (how many) snow/ice related words
C. The Sami language has (how many) words for ‘types’ of snow and snow ‘uses’
D. What date was the first reference to Inuit having multiple words for ‘snow’
E. By 1978 what inflated number was quoted
F. In 1984, the New York Times adjusted the number to
1. 300
2. 1986
3. 50
4. 1966
5. 250
6. 100
7. 1911
8. 180
9. 3
0. 1940
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.