I have been meaning to mention a post that appeared on Johnson, The Economists' language blog, and now seems like an appropriate time as we are in the midst of ski season here in Michigan. The post is about the friendly animosity that occurs between skiers and snowboarders and the names that are used by each to provoke the rivalry in Poland.
According to Johnson, skiers call a snowboard a parapet (windowsill) and snowboarders call skis boazeria (wainscots), thus the title of the post, "Windowsill v Wainscots".
In addition to the brief article, what I found interesting were a couple of comments from readers included this one from AcrossTheStreet:
"Colorado has lighthearted names for its alpine battle of rafters and fly-fishers: Row v Wade."
And this one from Jeremie1:
"In Spain snowboarders are just known as "surferos", as far as I know, but the surferos do use a malicious nickname for skiers, who distinguish themselves by using ski sticks: they are known as "palilleros" - from "palillos", or little sticks, such as toothsticks."
My son, a snowboarder, calls skiers "two-plankers".
So how about you: are you a windowsiller or a wainscotter, a rafter or a fly-fisher, a surfer or a palilleros?
What other labels are out there?
According to Johnson, skiers call a snowboard a parapet (windowsill) and snowboarders call skis boazeria (wainscots), thus the title of the post, "Windowsill v Wainscots".
In addition to the brief article, what I found interesting were a couple of comments from readers included this one from AcrossTheStreet:
"Colorado has lighthearted names for its alpine battle of rafters and fly-fishers: Row v Wade."
And this one from Jeremie1:
"In Spain snowboarders are just known as "surferos", as far as I know, but the surferos do use a malicious nickname for skiers, who distinguish themselves by using ski sticks: they are known as "palilleros" - from "palillos", or little sticks, such as toothsticks."
My son, a snowboarder, calls skiers "two-plankers".
So how about you: are you a windowsiller or a wainscotter, a rafter or a fly-fisher, a surfer or a palilleros?
What other labels are out there?
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