Like Eskimos to Snow are We With Words

First of all, I’m pretty sure the Eskimo reference is a myth.  I think it’s a misunderstanding that Eskimos have fifty words for snow.  I read recently that their language uses many different word endings to denote tense, mood, number, possibly even use in a sentence (object? subject?).  Somebody misunderstood the endings, mistaking one word in different forms for many words and so, the fifty-Eskimo-words-for-snow myth was born.  Whether it’s true or not really doesn’t matter to me.  I like the idea that people who live in, with, and surrounded by a lot of snow would develop many different words to express the many different forms of the white stuff: fine, powdery, heavy, new, old, wet, and, well, you get the idea.

In my day job we make intensive use of words.  Words, nicely arranged, are our product.  We not only use them, we practice a fine and careful precision in how we use them.  Sometimes, we need to remind people about things for which we’re waiting to hear an answer.  Other times, we are broaching a completely new issue.  At times, we’re actually asking for something, like a piece of information.  The other day, my boss asked me to call so-and-so to engage him on a particular topic.  He was simply saying to discuss the issue with that particular interlocutor though to do it, perhaps, in an artful, nicely put way.  Me being who I am and loving word play as I do, I started listening for the words we use to describe how we interact with others about a particular topic and decided to start a collection.  (Humorously, I checked the list, below, and neither remind nor broach, two words I used earlier in this paragraph, are on the list.  I’m going to add them both.)

Here is the beginning of my collection of words, mostly verbs, that we use to describe various degrees of interacting with people.  I tried to arrange them from mild to vigorous, plus I added a few we don’t use but that added a touch of humor.  I’d like to urge you to send me (as a comment at the end of this post or at aschield@thelifeliterary.com) other words for the collection.  I think there are probably many more.  If I don’t hear from you, I may have to ping you.

Ping
Pulse
Urge
Nudge
Engage
Broach
Touch base
Remind
Check in
Contact
Keep apprised
Reach out
Buzz
Ring
Telephone
Uncover
Call
Probe
Pester
Badger
Hector
Shout
Yell
Scream
Go ballistic