?Let it snow, let it sleet, let it hail!?

Welcome to the second edition of the British Council?s Weekly Language Clinic. If you read last week?s column, you will know that this is your opportunity to share questions regarding the English language. This week the word you have invited me to ponder is ?synonym?. A synonym is a word with the same, or a similar meaning as another word in the same language. Synonyms allow us to be more exact, precise and efficient when describing the world and our experience of it. For example, there are various synonyms for the act of laughing, including giggling, snickering, sniggering, tittering, chuckling, chortling, cackling, cracking up, doubling up, splitting one?s sides, guffawing, cachinnating? the list goes on. Each of these describes the act of laughing, yet each carries with it a distinct, nuanced variation on the same ?theme?. This difference of meaning could be described in terms of strength, duration or even sincerity. One of the most infamous claims associated with synonyms is that the Inuits (the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland) have between 50 and 400 words for snow, compared to just one word in English. This is incorrect. The actual number of distinct terms according to linguist Steven Pinker is a rather more modest twelve. The other problem with this claim is that there are many English words which describe snow in different states: sleet, flakes, hail, powder and slush being just a few. Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? at the British Council Language Clinic by emailing the address below: [email protected]. Or contact the British Council to find out more about our English Language study options.