Blizzard

[cos]

"Blizzard" is a perfectly fine word that could serve us well for centuries. I wish we weren't calling every run-of-the-mill blizzard a "snowpocalypse".

True, it is a fun word. If we'd had it in '78 it would've come in handy. We made do with "blizzard" then.

Comments

[catamethyst.livejournal.com]

I think that slang or non-standard usage can serve a purpose in bringing together a group of people. Language and dialect is often connected deeply with identity. Usually these terms are more localized, but last winter the internet served as a tool to make "snowpocalypse" significantly more widespread. Sure, it's a silly term, but it also made a large group of people feel like they were somehow connected -- like they survived something together. And in Baltimore, at least, last year's storm was out of the ordinary. The largest in my lifetime, I think. Or at least since the early '90s. While it's not necessary, there's nothing wrong with having a term to distinguish an intensity beyond "blizzard."

Of course, if it starts being used to describe every blizzard, it just becomes a catchphrase and loses its sense of intensity. On the other hand, terms of intensity generally tend to become more mainstream and less intense over time (awesome, amazing, terrible, horrible, etc.).

[cos]

> Of course, if it starts being used to describe every blizzard ...

That's exactly what I mean. We just had a run-of-the-mill blizzard. Hence, my objection wasn't to the existence of the term "snowpocalypse" (which I acknowledge is a fun word), but that "I wish we weren't calling every run-of-the-mill blizzard a snowpocalypse" (to quote my post :).

[catamethyst.livejournal.com]

Maybe its usage is supposed to be reminiscent of days of yore (by which I mean last winter). I also have no idea what Boston is looking like right now.

Here's a usage question, though: as someone else pointed out, "blizzard" denotes high winds and low visibility. Is there a term (besides the somewhat tepid "winter storm") for a storm that doesn't feature high winds but does dump an abnormal amount of snow?

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

And then, when you DO get an actual snowpocalypse, the word has been so devalued that you need a cooler word.

...which is why I referred to last year's storm in DC as "The Snowpocalytastrofucktagon".

[seventorches.livejournal.com]

Wow. I now regret deeply living in temperate climes for the last ten years; I'll never get to use that word.

On the other hand, what if you get a worse storm later on, I hope you'll be able to come up with something suitably fucktasmarigtigally evocative?