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CULTURAL VOCABULARY
A GUIDE TO CURIOUS WORDS AND GESTURES FROMAROUND THE GLOBE
22
FEBRUARY 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
Snow Ponies
A PRESTIGIOUS HORSE RACE
TRADES DIRT FOR FLAKES
Every February in St. Moritz, snow-
chained Bentleys jockey with Ferraris
and Range Rovers for parking behind
the caviar-and-champagne marquees
of Europe’s winter glamcapital. They’re
lured here by a singular spectacle:
thoroughbred horses from across the
continent storming around a frozen
lake, kicking clouds of snow into the faces of the jockeys towed behind them like frozen water-skiers.
St. Moritz’s annual White Turf race is a celebration of
skikjöring
, a sport that was invented here almost 100
years ago (the name comes from a Norwegian term meaning “driving with ropes”). At first the race followed a
road fromSt. Moritz to Champfèr, with contestants starting at one-minute intervals, but it moved to an oval track
on the lake after the inaugural run. It became more hazardous as a result: With 12 horses pulling skiers behind
them, the turns—especially the first one, right after the horses bolt out of the gate in a pack—are particularly
perilous. At one race in 1965, not a single skier crossed the finish line.
“
Skikjöring
is dangerous,” says Swiss jockey FrancoMoro, as he straps on a pair of skis andwatches his chestnut
gelding get its spiked shoes checked by the stable owner. “I’ve seen many injuries and know how to read the
race. If a nearby horse looks like a front-runner, rather than risk injury I let him pass and overtake him later when
he starts tiring.”
While Moro finished first in last year’s event, he recalls another race in which his horse stumbled and then
somersaulted. “My skis narrowly missed him, and fearing the worst, I dropped the reins,” he says. Undeterred,
the horse got up, shook off the snow and, no longer encumbered byMoro, rocketed up the track toward the front
of the pack. Toward, but not past. “He came in second,” the jockey says.
—CINDY-LOU DALE
ST. MORITZ, SWITZ.
CHINA
Extending the thumb and
index finger means “eight.”
The Chinese can count to 10
on one hand, since numbers
6 to 10 are based on Chinese
characters.
chenyin:
You may be doing
this if you’re counting on your
hands: “mu ering to oneself.”
BRAZIL
Think someone’s full of it? Tap
the bottom of your jaw with
the back of your hand to tell
’em so. That means “not true”
or “idle chat.”
dede-duro:
In some circles
this means “loudmouth”; in
others, “snitch.”
INDIA
To beckon someone, the
“come hither” finger curl
won’t work. Instead, extend
your arm, palm down, and
make a scratching motion
with your fingers together.
dhadkan:
You might hear this
in a Bollywood film—it means
“heartbeat” in Hindi.
ITALY
If someone is trying to deceive
you, show that you’re onto
him by moving your nose side
to side with your index and
middle fingers.
serenata:
This word for
“serenade” also means
“nigh ime burglary.”
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