OK, stoopid question from me... again... heh

[BoxMN]

So why do many people call

"snowmobiles" "snow machines"?

Especially in Alaska?

Or is that the real term, and we in MN/WI have it wrong? Kinda like duck duck gray duck vs. duck duck goose...

"Snow machine" just sounds so, kind of, like a newbie would call it, but maybe I am the newbie here

[leechlake]

after hearing some old timers and the Mountain Men on tv calling their snowmobiles snow machines I've started calling my sled a snow machine too. I think it's funny actually. I'm not into snowmobiling enough to call it a sled in my opinion so as much as I remember I do call it my "snow machine."

Jump on the bandwagon!

[LightningBG]

We are not incorrect.

This is based off of the websites and literature for Arctic Cat, Polaris, Skidoo, Yamaha.

Snowmobile or Sled in my opinion.

Snow machine must just be a cultural, or regional, or whatever thing.

You wont catching me asking my buddies to go out "snow machining" or call myself a "snow machiner"

[BoxMN]

I did a search AFTER posting, and see this is a much bantered about question, with no correct answer. I might just start calling them "snow thingies".... He11, I am old and like to make stuff up that makes my grandkids shake their heads

[Walleyehooker]

I think the older crowd like me tends to call them snow machines. Years ago there were a lot of contraptions that were made to go threw snow so we called them snow machines. Now you have a few manufacturers making a similar machine and marketed as snowmobiles.

[Surface Tension]

Used to be "Lets go Ski-Dooing". Today its "Lets go Riding" but if you need to define that to someone confused then I say "snowmobiling (DUH)".

Snowmobile or Snow machine but Machine, Sled, or Ski Doo sounds better.

[IcePro]

The same things applies with tip-ups and fish houses

Fish House

Ice Shelter

Ice Shanty

Shanty

Coop

Tip-ups

Traps

[leechlake]

Cabin-Minnesota

Cottage-Wisconsin

Cottage sounds weird to me.

[leech~~]

From 2008, I don't think she coined the phrase.

Interesting below, Minnesota kicks butt with "snow machines" over everyone!

Alaskans yield to lower 48 on 'snowmobile'

October 20, 2008|By Charles Leroux, TRIBUNE REPORTER

As America becomes more and more dialed into the lexicon of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, distinctions emerge. For instance, she calls snowmobiles "snow machines." Why?

As she herself notes on youtube.com, "Up here, it's a snow machine."

Elsewhere, it's a "snowmobile," and a "snow machine" is a machine that makes snow.

Craig Medred, a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, owns a snowmobile and uses it when he covers the Iditarod dog-sled race.

"Ten years ago or so," he said, "the paper instituted a policy that we are to use 'snowmobile' and 'snow machine' interchangeably, though we tend to say 'snow machine' on first reference out of local preference. I don't know why, but some Alaskans seem to think of 'snowmobile' as sissified."

Medred, who grew up in Minnesota, was asked if there is any attempt to use the term "snowmobile" for readers outside Alaska.

"Alaskans don't really care about people outside Alaska," he said.

The Palin family association with snow machines is mostly through "First Dude" Todd Palin, four-time winner of the grueling 2,000-mile Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race. Laura Bedard, executive director of Iron Dog Inc., which runs the race for sponsoring oil company Tesoro, said, "The term, 'snow machine' goes back to the early days of snowmobiles. For that matter, so does 'iron dog,' which is what the native population first called them. But things have changed, and we're aware that, for many people, a snow machine is a snowmaker. We want our race recognized to the world, so we use 'snowmobile.'"

By any name, the snowmobile is a relatively new beast. After some early, clanking behemoths, a Canadian company, Bombardier, in 1959 tied a lighter, smaller engine than had been available in the past to skis and came up with what we'd recognize as the modern, open-cockpit, one- or two-person design. The company sold it as the "Ski-doo," a name that sometimes is applied to the whole category.

State/Provincial snowmobile registrations for 2013-2014 season were as follows:

State/Province # registered State

AK 52,380 SD 14,589

CA 19,700 UT 23,200

CO 28,023 VT 23,872

ID 41,635 WA 24,520

IL 26,493 WI 237,803

IN 9,500 WY 33,000

IA 25,995 AB 36,000

ME 80,000 BC 37,000

MA 12,400 MB 34,587

MI 205,351 NB 16,612

MN 258,000 NF 101,380

MT 44,885 NS 5,700

NE 899 NT 4,800

NH 44,349 NU 287

NY 115,982 ON 150,000

ND 12,310 PE 1,608

OH 11,893 QC 184,908

OR 14,132 SA 20,495

PA 36,351 YT 899

[BoxMN]

Yeah, I guess it is similar for lots of things...

Motorcycle

Motorbike

Bike

Cycle

Ride

"Snow machine" just still sounds odd to me

[nitro640]

Its still ski dooing if you talk to canadians. We stayed at grand portage casino couple years ago and a canadian couple asked if we were ski dooing. Take a few seconds for us to figure it out.

[DonBo]

Its still ski dooing if you talk to canadians. We stayed at grand portage casino couple years ago and a canadian couple asked if we were ski dooing. Take a few seconds for us to figure it out.

[low277]

I think in many areas of Canada they still say Ski-Doing. In my area it is often referred to as a snowcat or snow-catting, although a think the name Sno Cat was originally a name for a track machine from Tucker.

[mwal]

Our friends by Nipigon call it snocatting

[eyeguy 54]

grew up with skidoos in the 60's and called all of them that for quite a while.

[Xplorer]

Cabin-Minnesota

Cottage-Wisconsin

Cottage sounds weird to me.

Northern WI and the UP = "Shack" Whenever we head over to the in-laws place in the

woods outside Hurley we are heading out to the shack.

I also think "snow machine" was used as in the past they were used alot more as a utility vehicle for work. My FIL uses the term often, but he sees it as a way to get to his traps, a ways to get to his "shack" (its two miles off the road with only an atv trail to access it) and a way to maybe go out to dinner at an area restaurant on a saturday night. I dont think I have ever heard him refer to it as a "sled" in 27 years