Re-reading Making Money today.

[conuly]

"Trolls don't have a word for machismo in much the same way that puddles don't have a word for water."

Do you think that's a variant of the "Eskimos have 20 zillion words for snow" line? (BTW - they don't by any sensible view of the word (no more than we do, certainly), and it wouldn't matter if they did.)

Comments

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Are we talking trolls in the internet sense or the fairytale sense?

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of the claims that such and such a language (usually that belonging to an 'enemy' culture) doesn't have a word for "freedom" or "love" or "identity," etc., but with the determinism inverted.

(Also, I just finished the audio book of Going Postal and am itching to revisit Making Money.)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's an inversion of the same theme, yeah.

IIRC, Pterry is talking about this line (or a similar line from Small Gods, not certain) and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in The Folklore of Discworld - I think he's actually bringing up (and dismantling) the Eskimo line in that context. But I'd have to look it up to be sure, it's been a year since I read that. Or it might have been on tvTropes. *scratches head*