Skookum

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For other uses, see Skookum (disambiguation).

Skookum is a Chinook jargon word that has come into general use in British Columbia and Yukon Territory in Canada, and in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The word skookum has three meanings:

a word in regional English that has a variety of positive connotations;
a monster;
a souvenir doll once common in the Mountain States

1 Principal meaning
2 Other uses
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Principal meaning

It has a range of positive meanings. As described in the FAQ from Skookum Tools Ltd.{skookum}, the word can have meanings from "'good,' to 'strong,' 'best,' 'powerful,' 'ultimate' and 'first rate.' Something can be skookum meaning 'cool' or skookum can be 'tough.' A skookum burger is a big (or really tasty) hamburger, but when your Mom's food is skookum, it's delicious but also hearty [...] When you're skookum, you've got a purpose and you're on solid ground."

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 Jargon, skookum is also used as a verb auxiliary, as in "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, one of them for a famous saltwater rapid at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet, the others at rapids on the Lillooet and Columbia Rivers. While the rapid at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet is the Skookumchuck on the 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 British Columbia Coast.

[edit] Other uses

A second meaning of 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 local souvenir doll, simply called "a skookum", once common in truck stops and local retailers in eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Skookum, either alone or in the combination skookumchuck, occurs in dozens of placenames throughout the region.

There is also a breed of purebred cat called a Skookum. The name has also been used for a hard rock band in Vancouver and also a jazz group in Nottingham, England.

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

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.

Skookum is also an endearing term attributed to Michael Benjamin Van Booven. The nickname was given to him because of his mountain giant-like appearance as well as his uncommon fixation with the Bigfoot legend. It is most often shortened to "Skooks". His other nicknames include Boobs and Warchild.