Until I read lexicographer Bernadette Hince s introduction, I hadn t thought about Antarctica s lack of local native speakers. Unlike the Arctic human inhabitants, Antarctic penguins and seals didn t speak much, a challenge for any dictionary-creator. Before this dictionary, no-one had ever made a study of the English of Antarctica. Resourcefulness is evident. The A factor is a humorous term for the unreasonableness of things due to severe weather or extreme isolation.
Polar ennui is explained.
A reasonable statement in 1947. Antarctica has become so cool that 14,000 tourists visited last summer.