Chrysti The Wordsmith: Snodeo - 1

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith early in the month of June the community of Wilson Montana North of Bozeman hosts its annual rodeo a couple of friends recently went to this event and when I later asked them how they liked the rodeo one laughed. Oh you mean the snow Dio and went on to describe the unseasonable white stuff that blew into the arena on a frigid north wind. My friend said they came up with the word snow Dio when they realized that a nasty cold front was about to blow right through the middle of the Will Sol rodeo. A delightful merging of the terms snow and rodeo snow Dio is a fine example of the linguistic tradition known as blending some familiar durable examples of bland words our brunch from breakfast and lunch and motel blending motor and hotel. Thinking of my friend's new word I wondered if they were the first to merge the terms snow and rodeo to get the lovely snow Deo. But when I Googled the word I found that someone had beaten them to the bland. The word has been around since at least one thousand seventy six when the residents of Woodgate New York inaugurated their snow Deo. An

annual December weekend celebrating winter with snowmobile parades and races but I think it's a safe bet that my friends were the first to apply the word snow Deo to a real live Western snowy June rodeo and will saw Montana. I'm Christie the wordsmith. This series is produced in the studios of the FM on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. Website for the series is wordsmith radio dot org. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.