Snowflakes vs raindrops. Snow is gusting past our front garden in little clouds. Rain doesn't do that very often. It makes me think how light snow is compared to rain.
I found a wonderful article Raindrops and Snowflakes by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins - these are excerpts:
"The observed behaviour of rain as it falls fits the event referred to by the common verb "fall." Rather than rain drops "dropping," we actually say rain falls. Since the "drops" are discrete bits of falling water, we call them rain drops, but we still say the rain falls. "Raindrops keep falling on my head." We don't say raindrops are dropping on my head.
Likewise, I believe you'll hear the same usage for frozen bits like sleet or freezing rain (which is a mix of frozen and unfrozen bits of H2O). As the snow "falls" it is a fluffy, irregularly shaped particle. The noun "drop" applies only to liquids.
Thus the action pictured by "dropping" is not appropriate for snow. The infinitely variable shape is referred to as a flake, due to the generally flat shape and individuality of the particles. Like a "flake" of something sliced off the larger part, like a flake of soap.
Upon arrival, each snowflake just nestles in among its mates, while waiting the arrival of more falling flakes. The snowflake, likewise, is caught by drafts of air, and thus gravity acts differently than upon a solid compact bit of water or frozen water. Think of a snowflake as a wind surfer that gradually comes to ground to rest.
We don't say rain drops from the sky, but it falls. Note also that in the same way we do not say snow flakes from the sky, but the snow also falls. Thus the nouns for the physical form of the water in these cases, is not the same word as for the verb used in the action."
I went in search of some funny snowflake jokes, and instead found many insulting political American jokes in which snowflake is a derogatory metaphor for a liberal. They are easily distinguished by their hatefulness.
I find that GQ.com gives us the recent origin of this - a derisive term used in the movie Fight Club (You are not special. You are not beautiful and unique snowflakes...). The article indicates that the actual origins are the 1860s as a person who was opposed to the abolition of slavery. Today the meaning has swapped and been taken on by the far right:
From cartoonist Ben Garrison: "The special snowflake is a whining millennial who protests instead of getting a “real job” and cries sexism because she’s upset men don’t find her attractive enough. She believed the liberal arts teacher who told her being unique is a good thing. Have I mentioned that she’s unattractive?"
And GQ's conclusion: “snowflake” has become the go-to for enemies on the left. There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which “You triggered, snowflake?” cannot be the comeback. It’s purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. “Sharing is caring”? Communism. “Feelings are good”? Facts over feelings. “Everyone is special and unique”? Shut up, snowflake.
When I first looked through the snowflake jokes, I found one rebuttal joke: Republicans are the true snowflakes...they're white, they're cold, and if you put enough of them together they'll shut down public schools
Here are some birch bark macros I revisited yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment