Comments on: Snow terms

By: Graham

Graham — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:54:54 +0000

Margaret – I haven’t heard “stay” used in this way before – it’s yet another term, but I wouldn’t use any of these words adjectivally with this precise meaning. I agree with you that “lying snow” is snow that’s already on the ground, and “sticky” snow would be what you call “sticking snow”. But if someone looks out of the window and says “it’s snowing”, the question that then comes is “Is it sticking/lying/settling/pitching?” Would you ask “Is it staying?”?

By: Margaret S.

Margaret S. — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:21:25 +0000

I’m Canadian, and the word I use for it, and hear used is “stay,” and not any of the other terms you cite. We talk about “staying snow;” do any of the other terms work this way (i.e. lying snow, sticking snow, etc.)?

To me, sticking snow is so wet that it sticks to anything it falls on (even vertical surfaces). And lying snow is snow lying on the ground (as opposed to blowing snow), so I don’t think we use either of these terms for staying snow.

By: Philip TAYLOR

Philip TAYLOR — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:04:51 +0000

Amy’s comment (”[snow] sticks; it has never occurred to me that it might do something else”) provides a fascinating insight into the way that each us tends to regard our local dialect as “normal” and everything else as slightly perverse. Graham’s mention of snow terms brought to mind another verb which varies significantly as one goes north (in the U.K.) : in the south, one “picks things up” (from a shop, or from a surface) — the following text, copied verbatim from Dales Cycles web site, makes it plain that in Scotland one does something quite different …

“Regretfully, items purchased on-line cannot be uplifted from our Glasgow shop.”

By: Amy Stoller

Amy Stoller — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:31:56 +0000

In New York, it sticks. It has never occurred to me before that it might do something else elsewhere. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:10:30 +0000

I think that’s a malo-citrine comparison. All of “lie”, “stick”, and “settle” as applied to snow are part of the standard dialect: “pitch” (in this sense) and “purvet” are traditional dialect forms, as is “yin” for “one”. The standard dialect can be spoken with any of numerous accents and contains much vocabulary that is mostly used locally, like “davenport” = “sofa”.