This document discusses cultural differences in how snowmen are typically constructed. In North America and Europe, snowmen are usually built with three snowballs to represent the head, torso, and legs. However, in East Asia snowmen typically only use two snowballs, representing the human body as two units - the head and body - rather than three. This stems from the Japanese word for snowman, which refers to a snow doll or person based on a Buddhist symbol represented with two parts. The document cautions against making assumptions and encourages considering that concepts can be understood differently in other cultures.

1. The Assumptions We Make
(About Snowmen)

2. How many snowballs are needed
to make a snowman?
Your answer: _____.

3. If you said
“three,” you are
probably a
North American
or European.
Image source: Wikipedia

4. Did you know that in East Asia, a
snowman typically has two snowballs?
Image source: Wikipedia

5. Apparently, some people think of the human
body represented as one unit (one snowball)
and others as two units.
Why is this? Well, in Japanese, the word for
snowman is yuki daruma, meaning “snow
doll” or “snow person.” The word daruma
comes from the Buddhist dharma and is most
often represented by a red, bearded doll.
Image source:
Wikipedia

6. So, it seems we have conflicting systems
of “logic” here. Is the body divided into
three parts: head, torso, and legs? Or into
two parts: head and body?
Keep this in mind the next time you make
assumptions about the way something is
“supposed to be.”
You just may be in for a surprise.

7. Postscript
A while back, the author was surprised to learn
that a tricycle isn’t always a “tricycle.” In the
U.S., trikes have larger front wheels than in the
back. In Japan, all three are the same size.