Clovers In The Atmosphere

there is a cultural myth that inuit have 98 words for snow. (They do have a bunch, but it is only about 20). And that the diversity of one's language on a subject indicates the need to delineate subtle differences easily. well, then canadians have 98 words for hockey. I learned a new one last night, "shinny." It is an informal version of ice hockey played with skates but no pads, and frequently goals marked with found objects. My armchair etymology assumed that it was called this because the puck could not go above the shin (which is a common aspect of shinny due to the lack of padding), but the word actually derives from the scottish game "shinty." shinny should not be confused with "spongee" which is basically the same thing, but without skates. according to wikipedia, spongee was developed because below -30C, skates cannot gain good traction on ice. I love canada.

I tried skating last night on my yard sale hockey skates. it was pretty hard. I had only skated with figure skates in the states, so I left huge gauges where the toe pick would have been at the end of each stride. it was fun, but very cold.