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One Hundred Eskimo Words for Snow

There is a kick-ass myth

I want to mine with you

I want to dig deep into

a seam of sex-lexemes

and come up smiling

covered in snow

 

to roll my tongue (our tongues)

around each near-synonym in turn

let’s be sex-Eskimos and have

a hundred words for fuck

 

you pick whether we are

Yupik or Inupiat

I’ll lick Kalaallit or Sirenki

and together we’ll dig igloo-blocks

from each fuckdrift

 

later we can argue over

what makes a word a word

but for now

 

I want your qana to fall upon me

or your aput to search

for warmth in my cold

to feel your piqsirpoq pile up

in my qimuqsuq deeper and profound

and oh-so-fucking-plumbed

 

it’s such a man thing

to have a single word

such a woman thing

to have a hundred

 

I am an Eskimo for sex

 

does that make me a bad person

 

baby?

 

 

Author notes

By the way, "Eskimo" is not a derogatory term (except it has popularly assumed to be so in Canada). It is a myth that the "Eskimo" language (there are several) has an inordinate number of words for snow; the italicised words qana, aput, pipsirpoq, and qimuqsuq were noted by a lexicographer in 1911. Enough notes, already!

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Comments

1 - 27 of 27
  • silverfish
    October 29, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    even athabascan linguists need love. i like this poem. in a word, fun. -1000fish

  • ea silver member
    October 25, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    LOL. He should get a kick out of this!


    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 25, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Och, it was just a silly idea begging to be done. Didn't get a podium place.


  • Amera gold member
    October 24, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I'm telling your mother!

    Love,
    Amera♥


  • sheltered
    October 23, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    well it would be quite cold i suspect
    so what better to do
    than have a aput in the qana
    i'm feeling warmer already


  • moon2u
    October 23, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    hahahaha
    omg I love it!
    applause and good luck


    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 23, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Things do tend to work when I throw political correctness to the wind!


  • Pure Thought silver member
    October 22, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    All riot. Great stuff here. What killer originality.


    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 23, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Thank you. "killer originality" really gives me a rosy glow.

  • Cinnarry gold member
    October 22, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    "from each fuckdrift"

    you slay me

  • Bad Bill
    October 22, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    No snow-job here! Clever stuff, and I love "fuckdrift."

    Well done, you,
    Bill


  • paulcreates silver member
    October 22, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    'Eskimo' is derogatory if you refer to an Indian or an Aleut as such in Alaska. I know, I grew up there. It's similar to calling a Chinese person Japanese.
    Nice freewrite. I've often wondered in English why there are only two words I know of for the female genetilia - one clinical and one extremely offensive, but I won't go there. lol

    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 22, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      Now as I heard, it is not supposed to be derogatory in Alaska, where there are more than two clearly-defined peoples of that ethnic group. It's an inclusive word for the specifically non-Indian peoples of the fringes of Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland; it doesn't (as popularly supposed) have any connotation of eating raw meat, but rather to wearing snowshoes, or perhaps speaking a language unintelligible to the non-Eskimo listener. One thing I am clear about, is that Todd Palin would not be pleased if you called him an Inuit (the PC term in Canada) because he is a Yup'ik.

      Don't knock there being very few words for anything - that's what gives such scope for imagination to the likes of us!

      Thanks for the visit.

      • paulcreates silver member
        October 22, 2008

        Edit | Reply
        Well, I can assure you that whether it is a technical faux pax or not to interchange the monikers Eskimo, Indian, and Aleut, it sure was in Southeast Alaska.
        There was a native American institute there in Wrangel that gathered all sorts of non-whites to it and so our church was closely associated with the different cultures.

        Mairi, damn if I don't learn something every time you post too. I didn't even know Todd Palin was Yup'ik.
        And as for the particular identifying characteristic of an Eskimo - I didn't eat the raw meat, and I damn sure didn't eat that horrid 'Eskimo Ice Cream' -a gag inducing slurry of blueberries and whale tallow - but I did wear the snow shoes and still do, so I guess that makes me one white Eskimo! LOL

        • Mairi bheag gold member
          October 22, 2008
          Edit | Reply
          Certainly wouldn't ever call an Indian an Eskimo anyway, Paul. There is very little direct connection between the Athabaskan peoples of the NW and the Eskimos. I have always wondered about the ethnicity of Aleuts; certainly their language has connections to the Eskimo languages. However, I would not suggest (and didn't in my light-hearted poem) that anyone lumped ALL the non-white inhabitants of Alaska under the title "Eskimo".

          Yeah, Todd Palin is at least part Yup'ik.
          http://allpoetry.com/poem/4569629

          As for your snow-shoes, I guess Eskimo is as Eskimo does!


  • Dalaney gold member
    October 22, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    lol! OOOOOooooh, this was so much fun to read, you shameless Eskimo hussy, you! How right you are about women having more words than men for "fucking" and
    you've expressed this thought not to be offensive or haughty (for their sometime lack of imagination), but with style, humor, and grace. I adore this piece. I adore you. Now, c'mere and let me give you an Eskimo kiss on the nose L

    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 22, 2008
      Edit | Reply
      It's not so much the actual words as the activities the words describe, Lane. Men are only capable of the concept of "insert flange A in recess B". We're wasted on the poor dears!


  • PerVirtuous
    October 22, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    You go ahead and freeze your ass off ... I am learning Tahitian! Brilliant, funny, and meaningful. The trifecta. Awesome write.

    • Mairi bheag gold member
      October 22, 2008

      Edit | Reply

      To quote Michael Flanders and Donald Swann:

      Oh, it's hard to say...
      "Oly-ma-kitty-luca-chi-chi-chi"
      But in Tonga, that means... "No"!
      If I ever have the money,
      'Tis to Tonga I shall go.
      For each lovely Tongan maiden there,
      Will gladly make a date,
      But by the time she's said:
      "Oly-ma-kitty-luca-chi-chi-chi",
      ...It is usually too late!



      Thanks for the highly reproductive bunnies.


  • Ceridwens Soul silver member
    October 22, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    no it doesn't make you a bad person but it probably qualifies you as a 'diving' instructor!!

    brilliant write!

    Jem x


  • cricketjeff gold member
    October 22, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    I think you will find there are a few more than 100 words for that

    Wonderful take on the prompt, and a great exploration of the concept.

    BG

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