 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, at least he talks about snow if you put the words into his mouth:
This looks to be Fish well before his landmark 1987 hurricane broadcast - but snow is far more interesting than hurricanes anyway - so what did our moustachioed hero have to say about this dramatic Scottish blizzard?
[Acknowledgments to SkiBeard on www.winterhighland.com for borrowing the pic. And acknowledgments to Britain's favourite weatherman, recently retired - hopefully living it up in the powder]
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hopefully the blizzards will hide my hideous tie...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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David Goldsmith, The 1987 hurricane was pretty interesting if you were staying in a caravn in the middle of the Surrey forest as I was! 
We should all encourage Michael Fish to say that it WON'T snow - that'll do it!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Julie Brown, Welcome to snowHeads!
I can see I might have serious competition for "pedant-in-chief"!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Ah, laundryman, in fact I think you'll find that
a. you are not, at this time "pedant-in-chief" as you have not been elected as such
b. if so, you would be Chief Pedant, but you're not
c. "competition" surely implies some type of rules and, of course, competitors, which would involve notification to interested parties that such a "competition" was taking place in order that others could achieve the status of "competitors". In order to declare a winner there would have to be some reasonable timescale involved between such notification and declaration of the "winner"
d. Who would judge this contest? Under whose authority?
We should be told.
Julie Brown, did you really know what you were letting yourself in for? Welcome anyway.
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scream, I think the word "might" is my get-out-of-jail-free card 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| PG wrote: |
| a "large crowded assembly of fashionable people at a private house" (mid 18th century, early 19th) |
PG, do you think that in modern usage, this meaning could be extended to gatherings of a virtual nature? Could it be that snowHeads itself is a hurricane?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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laundryman, no, note the reference to "fashionable people". After viewing the delightful pictures of romper suits elsewhere on this forum, I don't think we would qualify. However, what is reality, what is virtuality? Cogito ergo scum, perchance?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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laundryman, a blizzard of snowHeads might be a more suitable collective term? No ambiguity with blizzard, it turned up in the late 19th century with its current meaning, origin uncertain, although in the US in the earlier part of that century it meant a sharp blow, or a knock....
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| PG wrote: |
| Welcome Julie Brown ! while we're doing pedantry - a hurricane can also be a generic term for a "wind of hurricane force", |
It can, but....
..a force 12 wind is wind of hurricane force. Which is not by definition a hurricane. My trumpet can make a sound like an elephant but it is not an elephant. Come to think of it, so can my husband and he is no elephant, I can tell you!
If the Met Office had been on the ball they would have issued a force twelve gale warning and told people to expect hurricane force winds. However, they could not have issued a hurricane warning.
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You know it makes sense.
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Julie Brown, True, but even sticklers for form have to admit that language is an ever-evolving thing, and today's OED provides for the colloquial use of the term, as mentioned above. A hurricane may not be a Hurricane, but it's still a hurricane by definition through accepted usage, as it were! 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Julie Brown wrote: |
| My trumpet can make a sound like an elephant but it is not an elephant. |
 That reminds me of last night's concert. I looked around but, alas, no elephants in sight. Mind you, that section makes elephant noises without their instruments.
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Poster: A snowHead
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PG, , I see what you mean. You are right of course. Since everyone mistakenly called the Great Storm of 1987 a hurricane, and continue to do so, that 17 years of common usage has given the word a different meaning. A term which was wrong in a certain context at one point in time becomes correct if everyone uses it in that context for long enough.
I wonder is meteorological science is taught differently now as a result?
By the way, thanks everyone for the nice welcome.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well I slept through it! Woke up to no electricity, no garden fences, a tree on the car and a load of roof tiles missing 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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And I was lying on a beach somewhere on a beach in Skiathos oblivious to whatever you pedants want to call it......
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think where the confusion comes in, is that the storm was the after effect of a hurricane. It's the same weather system, it's just no longer classified as a hurricane. Just like some of the gales we got this autumn were the tail end of the hurricanes that were widely reported in the carribean/States.
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FAQ
