Long ago, the Master was working on a sentence regarding his feelings on snow. Here’s a short snippet of the column. ''In my spare time I’ve been attempting to construct an Eskimo sentence in my basement, such as will be suitable for the season. I haven’t got it perfected yet, but it’s coming along pretty well, and with a little work it might pass for the genuine article. So far I have: kaniktshaq moritlkatsio atsuniartoq.
When completed, this sentence will proclaim: “Look at all this freaking snow.” At present it means: “Observe the snow. It fornicates.” This isn’t poetic, but it’s serviceable, and I intend to employ it at the next opportunity."
Did he ever polish the phrase up like he wanted to? What is the completed version? Who has the Straight Dope?
It would be helpful to link to the article you’re commenting on. I assume you’re referencing this one from 1979.
Did you read the follow-up article to it?
Since he didn’t address it in the revisited article 22 years later, I’m pretty confident that he dropped the idea. (After all, Cecil is known for snark, so I doubt that there was any sincere effort put into that phrase.)
I didn’t know there was a follow-up article. The phrase came into my head while I was out shoveling our 90 x 8 foot driveway and I thought I’d ask about it. Thanks for the links. I can’t always make everything work on my phone.
It’s a family tradition in our house that on days with heavy snowfall, either my husband or myself looks out the window and announces solemnly, “Observe the snow.”
Only… Someone (@Ed_Zotti?) sanitized it. I have the first edition of the book and it clearly says Look at all this fucking snow, which makes a lot more sense in context of the snow fornicating.
True. I bought my first copy circa 1990 so it would have had the naughty language. That one got loaned out and read to pieces.
