Skookum Information

Skookum is a Chinook jargon word that has come into general use in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

The word skookum has three meanings:

1. a word in regional English that has a variety of positive connotations;
2. a monster; similar to the sasquatch.
3. a souvenir doll once common in the United States in tourist areas.

Principal meaning

It has a range of positive meanings. The word can mean 'good,' 'strong,' 'best,' 'powerful,' 'ultimate,' or 'brave.' ^[1] Something can be skookum meaning 'really good' or 'right on! 'excellent!', or it can be skookum meaning 'tough' or 'durable'. A skookum burger is either a big or a really tasty hamburger, or both, but when your Mom's food is skookum, it's delicious but also hearty. When you are skookum, you've got a purpose and you're on solid ground, in good health/spirits etc. When used in reference to another person, e.g. "he's skookum", it's used in respect with connotations of trustworthiness, reliability and honesty as well as (possibly but not necessarily) strength and size.

Being called skookum may also mean that someone can be counted on as reliable and hard-working, or is big and strong. In a perhaps slightly less positive vein, skookum house means jail or prison, cf. the English euphemism "the big house" but here meaning "strong house". Skookum tumtum, lit. "strong heart", is generally translated as "brave" or possibly "good-hearted". In the Chinook language, skookum is a verb auxiliary, used similar to "can" or "to be able". Another compound, though fallen out of use in modern BC English, is skookum lacasset, or strongbox.

A related word skookumchuck means turbulent water or rapids in a stream or river, i.e. "strong water" ("chuck" is Chinook Jargon for "water" or "stream" or "lake"). There are three placenames in British Columbia using this word, and one in Washington. Of the British Columbia skookumchucks one is a famous saltwater rapid at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet, the others at rapids on the Lillooet and Columbia Rivers, and also Skookumchuck Rapids Provincial Park on the Shuswap River, just downstream from Mabel Lake in the Monashees region. The Skookumchuck River in Washington is a robust tributary of the Chehalis River. While the rapid at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet is the Skookumchuck on the BC coast, the term is used in a general sense for other patches of rough water, typically tidal-exchange rapids at the mouths of other inlets or bays, which are a regular feature of the Inside Passage.

Other uses

• In another usage, a skookum is a variety of mountain giant or monster, similar to the Sasquatch or Bigfoot. In the surviving Chinuk-Wawa spoken in Grand Ronde, Oregon, this variant is pronounced differently - skoo-KOOM, but when used in English with this meaning it is pronounced the same way as the "big and strong" meaning. A derivative usage of the skookum-as-monster context was the application of the name to a souvenir doll, simply called "a skookum", once common in tourist areas such as gift shops.
• Skookum, either alone or in the combination skookumchuck, occurs in dozens of placenames throughout the Pacific Northwest region and beyond. A short form used with personal names, "Skook", is found on the map of British Columbia at Mount Skook Davidson near the confluence of the Kechika and Gataga Rivers in northern British Columbia and Mount Skook Jim, near the head of the Stein River in the northern Lillooet Ranges between Pemberton and Lytton. Local lore in any area of British Columbia may have a Skookum Charlie or a Skookum Brown - the most famous of such nicknames was that of Skookum Jim, one of the co-discoverers of the Klondike goldfields in the Yukon.
• There is also a breed of purebred cat called a Skookum.
• Skookums is also the name of the companion dog in Ernest Thompson Seton's book "Rolf in the Woods" published by Gossett and Dunlap in 1911.^[2] Rolf is a lad that runs away from abusive family to live in the woods with his Indian friend Quonab. He ends as a scout in the war of 1812. The Dog "Skookums" is an integral part of this story.
• Mary McAboy first started making Skookum dolls in 1913 and received a patent for them in 1914. Skookum dolls were popular from the early 1920s until the 1960s. They were factory made dolls that resembled Native American people. They were sold to the tourists at trading posts in the Western United States. Early dolls heads were made of dried apples with the bodies made of wood and stuffed with either leaves, straw, twigs or grass stuffed in a muslin sack. Later the dolls were made from composition and had mohair wigs. Later dolls were made of plastic and had plastic brown shoes. They have "Indian style" blankets as part of their attire. Some had jewelry such as beaded necklaces or earrings. Some dolls have feathered head dresses. The sizes of the dolls ranged from babies inside of cradle boards to large, human size store display dolls. The general rule of thumb is the larger the doll, the more valuable/rare they are. The most common sizes range from about seven inches to about 12 inches tall. Skookums were widely imitated. Minnetonka, Milbros or Minnehaha dolls are similar but not the same. Most Skookum dolls were made so they look to the right. Skookums do not have arms - they are wrapped with blankets and have the suggestion of arms. Skookums never have gray hair as in "elders". Skookums should have the words "Skookum" either stamped on their brown plastic shoes or a tag with "Skookum" on their foot in the case of the older versions.
• Skookums were also a variety/brand of apple grown in Washington state and popular in the UK in the 1960's - 1970's. Their logo was a cartoon portrait of a smiling American Indian.
• Skookum (sometimes shortened to Skook) is commonly used to reference portable toilets within Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA. This is a result of the company who provides and maintains the portable toilets, Skookum Sanitation, having their name placed prominently on the exterior portion of the door to enter each unit.

See also

• Skookumchuck
• List of Chinook Jargon placenames (places with "Skookum" in their names)
• Skookum (cat)
• Skukum Group
• Da kine, a roughly similar phrase used in Hawaiian English
• Hella, slang used originally and primarily in Northern California

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E02E6DE123AE633A25750C1A96E9C946096D6CF&oref=slogin Link to NY Times Review 1911]

External links

• Skookum Dolls History
• Chinook Jargon Phrasebook and Glossary
• Most untranslatable words: additional suggestions
• Skookum Sanitation

Categories:

• Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America
• Pacific Northwest
• Culture of British Columbia
• First Nations culture
• Canadian slang

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