Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:   
      
   ak>  Once I wrote this:   
      
   ak>  "I always wondered why Americans think that Santa flies   
   ak>  on a sleigh harnessed by reindeer, even without wings.   
      
      
             Clement C. Moore wrote a poem saying so.  According to Rolf Harris,   
   OTOH, Santa's sleigh is drawn by kangaroos when he's flying Down Under.  :-))   
      
      
      
   ak>  In this case Russian Santa is more pragmatic and his deer   
   ak>  go along the snow."   
      
      
             On the steppes, maybe.  (IIRC it generally takes about two weeks to   
   travel from Whitehorse in the Yukon to Fairbanks in Alaska by dog sled... but   
   there is a mountain range between these places.)  I think a lot may depend on   
   climate as well.  Except for the bit right next to the Arctic Ocean Russia is   
   mostly inland, isn't it?  IOW... Russia tends to get very cold during winter.   
   Santa's chances of finding snow on the ground there on Christmas Eve are much   
   greater than they would be in various parts of North America or Australia.  I   
   could go on at length about how some females here on the Wet Coast of BC love   
   snow-covered "Dickens villages" & how some details of the Nativity story vary   
   from one ethnic group to another, but I see you've got the picture... [grin].   
      
      
      
   ak>  I don't like the last sentence - how to put it down better?   
      
      
             I like "pragmatic" because as an English teacher I'm pragmatic too.   
   Now, changing hats from Literature to Language: "I'd say the Russian Santa is   
   more pragmatic because his reindeer run through the snow on the ground."  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)