Chionogenesis

Chio|no|ge|ne|sis (noun)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χιών (khiṓn, “snow”) + Via Latin, from Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis). The simplex genesis as a common noun (as opposed to Genesis, the name of the biblical book) from the late 16th century. As an English suffix from the mid 17th century (attested in epigenesis and palingenesis). Influenced by French -génésie and German -genese and productive in scientific vocabulary from the 19th century.

Definition

The ability to conjure snowfall by the mere mention of the word “Snow”. Usually hereditary, but isolated cases have been observed. First historical mention of chionogenesis can be found in Brown, Edward (1673), “A Brief Account of Some Travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia”, although he doesn’t mention it by name.

The opposite phenomenon, chionolysis, has been described theoretically, but so far has not been observed.

Example Usage

A: “Dammit, it’s cold today”
T: “Yup. At least it’s not snowing”
A: “No! Don’t mention the…”
[Blizzard ensues]
A: “I keep telling you, you have chionogenesis, don’t mention the snow!”