|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Forgive me if I am hijacking this thread prematurely, but I think there are quite a few words for winds of different seasons in many parts of the world. For instance "Föhn". You could look it up. Allegedly it is associated with serious emotional disturbances.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
For instance "Föhn". You could look it up. Allegedly it is associated with serious emotional disturbances.Ah, that does explain a lot. As for the dust thing, I'd plump for "historian" or "archaeologist". Laterally. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
ouch ouch
Doesn't the budget run to staff linguists any more?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
M-W on line ( http://www.m-w.com/) accepts * for wild cards. "*ology" nets you 290 entries. Happy hunting.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
I think there are quite a few words for winds of different seasons in many parts of the world.
Not to blow hot and cold, but.
I understand there is a southern wind in France called the mistral and that jurys tend to be more lenient for crimes of passion committed during "La Mistral."
In Hawaii, the Kona wind in October also sets people on edge and much testiness is forgiven when attributed to the "Kona Winds."
Any other local contribution folks?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
In Calgary and SW Alberta, there's a wind (or maybe more like a mass of warm air) which comes over the Rockies and warms the place up in the dead of winter. It was +20C on Christmas there one year. It's called a "Chinook" which is, I believe, a Native word. When the chinook comes, it pushes the clouds back in the sky and this is called a chinook arch. (Here's a great photo: http://www.nucleus.com/~cowboy/Misc/Chinooks.html)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Cool link, Bean. I always wondered about how Chinooks formed, ever since I read "Mrs. Mike" as a girl. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I get to tie two threads together!!!
Harken back to the discussion of how an air conditioner or refrigerator works. When cold wind comes down a mountainside it compresses. When it compresses the heat energy that was in it at the top of the mountain is more concentrated. Hence the air is warmer. Chinooks are quite common in the Denver area as we are on the lee side of the Rockies. Chinook means snow-eater in some Indian language.
The opposite wind, one blowing up the hill, turns very cold because the air is expanding as it goes uphill. The dreaded upslope in the wintertime in Denver often leads to huge snowfalls since the expanding air is less able to hold water so it falls out of the sky as snow. This happens a couple of times a winter when a low pressure mass moves across the Rockies down around the Colorado NM state line. The counterclockwise swirl of the low pushes warm moist wind up the slope out to the east of us and the air turns cold and dumps huge blizzards on us. I remember one on Christmas day 20 years ago that dumped more than an inch an hour on us for almost two days.
Thank God most of our electric lines are underground, so loss of electric power is not a huge problem.
This particular snowfall led directly to the Denver mayor's losing the election the next fall because he couldn't get the streets cleaned of snow.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
In Chicago (particularly in the black community), the biting winter wind coming off Lake Michigan is called "The Hawk".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
This particular snowfall led directly to the Denver mayor's losing the election the next fall because he couldn't get the streets cleaned of snow.
The same happened to Chicago's Mayor Bilandic (successor to Boss Daley), following the New Year's snowstorm of 12/31/78 to 1/1/79. Largest single snowstorm in the city's history, I believe, subject to LIU.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,322
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
501
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
