The Definition of Typhoon and Storm
Pitchie was wondering what the difference was between the terms "typhoon" and "storm". However, the house is currently deprived of a good, working Internet connection so we had no way of looking it up. Lotis said that the two words would be defined differently in technical terms. I offered my own take.
“Yung typhoon, yung ganun,” I said, moving the fingers of my hand in a circular, cyclic motion. “Yung storm – storm lang.”
It was Lotis who noticed that there was something funny with my verbal explanation and laughed. I laughed, too. Let’s codify my explanation.
typhoon – with your index finger pointing upward, move your hand in a circular, cyclic motion. Yes, that’s a typhoon!
storm – storm lang. O di ba? Very nice explanation!
Being the kind of person who is finicky with the exact meanings of words, I want to see whether my understanding of the words is accurate. What I meant to explain was that the term “typhoon” carried with it the idea of winds and their circular, cyclic movement. On the other hand, a “storm” might be a more generic term, used simply to mean “heavy rain” or “heavy rain with winds”. In the word “storm”, the typhoon-ic motion (remember the hand movement?) is not necessarily factored in.
In addition, etymologically speaking, the word “typhoon” is either of Japanese or Chinese origin. And I will make another guess – the word “storm” might be German in origin, or its existence can be traced back to Old English.
Hope my guesses hit the marks! :)
“Yung typhoon, yung ganun,” I said, moving the fingers of my hand in a circular, cyclic motion. “Yung storm – storm lang.”
It was Lotis who noticed that there was something funny with my verbal explanation and laughed. I laughed, too. Let’s codify my explanation.
typhoon – with your index finger pointing upward, move your hand in a circular, cyclic motion. Yes, that’s a typhoon!
storm – storm lang. O di ba? Very nice explanation!
Being the kind of person who is finicky with the exact meanings of words, I want to see whether my understanding of the words is accurate. What I meant to explain was that the term “typhoon” carried with it the idea of winds and their circular, cyclic movement. On the other hand, a “storm” might be a more generic term, used simply to mean “heavy rain” or “heavy rain with winds”. In the word “storm”, the typhoon-ic motion (remember the hand movement?) is not necessarily factored in.
In addition, etymologically speaking, the word “typhoon” is either of Japanese or Chinese origin. And I will make another guess – the word “storm” might be German in origin, or its existence can be traced back to Old English.
Hope my guesses hit the marks! :)
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