This whole Eskimo snow thing got started with a comment by Franz Boaz that the Eskimos had four words for snow. The number increased in the retelling and has been seen as large as 400. Here's another, easier to skim, statement of the
"hoax", as it is sometimes called. What all these retellings and any of the refutations of the retellings left out is that Boaz also said (and I'm going by memory here. I can't find the original text from Boaz) is that they had no word that covered snow in all its aspects.
PS
Aklthough I am a descriptivist, I don't like the use of the term 'hoax' to describe this phenomenon. To me 'hoax' implies a deliberate attempt to deceive for some gain on the part of the hoaxer.
