Snow!

On November 1st, I found myself reading one of those free newspapers someone has decided we need. I was almost at my stop, when I saw a small fact box proclaiming that October was the warmest ever recorded. With an average of 12.2° Celsius (54° Fahrenheit), we had beaten the previous high by 0.2 degrees. I wasn't surprised as October had been very warm for the season, and I liked that thought as I packed up the newspaper, donned my hat and got ready to walk out into the...
Snow!
After the warmest October in recorded history, the weather had decided to start off November with snow. I could hardly believe it.
It didn't last. In fact, the snow that morning didn't last until lunch time and November set another heat record. December may very well be the same.
But on my way down the stairs at the station that morning, I saw a big poster proclaiming that «The snow will start falling on November 3rd». Now, this wasn't a failed attempt by the Weather Service to warn us (and being wrong by two days). You see, «Snow» is a word with many meanings. It usually refers to the crystals coming out of the sky that morning in the beginning of November. It can also be a reference to a special white colour. Or sometimes it can mean the static you get on your television. Or of course it can mean cocaine. But in Danish, it has one more meaning.
The Danes have two unofficial days of celebration that you won't find in any calendar: P-day and J-day. Don't worry about the letters, as they refer to the Danish words for Easter (Påske) and Christmas (Jul). And on those two days, the annual Easter beer and Christmas beer is launched. And Christmas beer can be reffered to as «Snow». In other words, the poster simply meant to tell us of the coming of Christmas beer.
An urban legend is that eskimos or Inuits have hundreds if not thousands of words for snow. That is most likely just that - an urban legend. But to turn it around, Danes have at least one alternative meaning of the word snow that you won't find in dictionaries.
Cheers and happy holidays.