Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...
Hayley, a poet, grew up in Kansas City, then moved to Minnesota’s Twin Cities. After the last two winters there, she’s begun to wonder: Have English speakers ever referred to more than four seasons in English? Do other cultures measure...
mud hen n.— «Alaska Air two weeks ago retired the last of its dedicated fleet of banged-up old Boeing 737-200s affectionately known as “mud hens.”» —“Arctic Eagles Bid Mud Hens Farewell At Alaska Airlines” by...
ocean ranching n.— «Don’t ever refer to it as farming—but home grown fishes are the Alaska’s largest agricultural crop. Instead, call it “ocean ranching.”» —“Home grown fishes, Salmon sales slip, Funds for injured...
Y2Y n.— «The long-range agenda behind the environmentalist’s effort to move grizzlies into the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem is a part of a movement to develop a corridor that could link populations of bears all the way from Alaska to the...