Spread laughter and positive energy with wordplay! Dictomancy - Everyday Wordplay is a Wednesday blog series that features rare, bizarre, and absurd words and their meanings. Work one of these words into your day and spark some laughter and curiosity!
Pogonip - po*go*nip n Also pogonip fog, ~ frost Also sp poganip; for addit varr see quots [Paiute] chiefly NV Cf Tule fog A dense, icy fog; formerly also a severe snowstorm. 1892 Scientific Amer. 16 Apr. 240, The pogonip fog is peculiar to elevated altitudes in the Nevada Sierras. 1910 Hodge Hdbk. Amer. Indians 2.272, Pogonip. A Shoshonean term used in Nevada to designate a peculiar fog that occasionally visits the mountain country in winter. The sun is obscured, usually during the entire day, and sometimes for days, while the air is charged with a heavy fog in which fine particles of snow seem to be flying. Although the temperature may not be low, intense cold is felt on account of the unusual humidity that prevails.
“So is it snowing or fogging outside?”
“It’s pogonip.”
“Thanks for that.”
“Is a pogonip the winter equivalent of a haboob?”
“Get ready for a big ol’ pogonip this winter.”
“Give the students a pogonip day today.”
Please share and comment on today’s Dictomancy and feel free to post your uses for the words in a positive, lighthearted way. Audience participation makes Everyday Wordplay hilarious!
Works Cited
Cassidy, Frederic G. Chief Editor. Dictionary Of American Regional English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985. Print