Sapir-Whorf were full of shit

They didn't seem to consider the human imagination and creativity. Just look at Leonardo da Vinci - he came up with an insane amount of things that there were no words for. And humans have been creating quite elaborate imaginary beings and stories forever. Did S&W not know of science fiction?

Just because I wanted to prove a point, one morning while getting up, I came up with three different concepts that are so different from my experience and language that I should not have been able to think of them.

On a phase-locked planet, whenever there is a solar eclipse, the constant hurricanes slow down for a while, allowing brave people with heavy heat shields to venture further into the hot side to gather metals. This is extremely dangerous, of course. Especially while the shield is not loaded down with metals, if it tips it can get picked up by the wind and smash into the person. There can also be invisible pools of molten material than can cause this tipping. The best gatherers are the ones who know how to look for the subtle signs of mercury and avoid going mad. They have a word for these signs of molten mercury.

On a planet orbiting a double star, the rotation of the star causes changes in the amount and quality of the light, inducing a different kind of seasons. A creature that is fixed in place like a plant but moves its parts intelligently like an animal is affected by these solar seasons, and hunters know how to predict them and take advantage of them. They have words for the seasonal moves these creatures have.

If instead of arms and hands we had a kind of blue liquid we could control the density of, having seizures or maybe even hiccups could cause parts of that liquid to fall off. It can be reattached only by moving the remaining part into and around it in a particular way within a few minutes. This movement has a special word.



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