1 thousand words for reindeer?

[Barnhart]

In a recent article in The Independent:

"Climate change and unfamiliar species leave Inuit lost for words
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

28 November 2004

Global warming is increasingly rendering Inuit and other Arctic peoples at
a loss for words. They simply do not have names in their languages for the
temperate species flocking up from the south.

They have plenty of ways of describing their own wildlife - some have more
than 1,000 words for reindeer - but none for, say, the robin, which is
only now venturing north of the treeline. ...."

This seems to be another case of journalistic exaggeration.  More
mythology about "snow words" I suspect.

Regards,
David

barnhart at highlands.com