# So Exactly How Many Words Do The Eskimos Have For Snow?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-exactly-how-many-words-do-the-eskimos-have-for-snow/94310>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-exactly-how-many-words-do-the-eskimos-have-for-snow/94310 "2001-11-20T00:04:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-exactly-how-many-words-do-the-eskimos-have-for-snow/94310/1 "2001-11-20T00:04:26Z")

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20, 40, 60…I have lost track. The Eskimos or more properly Inuits or Yupik have many different names for many different conditions and types of snow. The English Language has much less. Why? And how many? I think the actual number is 60.

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**Author:** ![MattyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MattyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattyG)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-exactly-how-many-words-do-the-eskimos-have-for-snow/94310/2 "2001-11-20T00:17:39Z")

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The great one (Cecil) answered this.

[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010202.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010202.html)