Only if you want to get in trouble for appropriating our Northwest idiom. :rolleyes:
Personally, I’ve lived in the Northwest most of my life (mostly Spokane and Portland areas) and have never heard anyone use the word in conversation. It’s probably more of a BC thing than Washington and Oregon thing.
Dammit, I’m willing to take that risk.
I grew up in Ohio, but I became familiar with the word as a fourth-grader in 1969 when a book called Skookum (or at least featuring a dog by that name) was assigned to one of the reading groups that was “slower” than the one I was in. However, a cursory Google search for the “novel” (as the teacher called it in an apparent attempt to make the kids think they were reading a work for grown-ups) comes up empty. As I recall, the cover featured a snowy Alaskan landscape with a solitary dog set against the desolate backdrop. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
Now I’m afraid to even think about the word. Someone tried to warn me about its use and … they got to him! :eek:
It’s a built-in magnifying glass with a small LED light to illuminate the …uh… subject.
I may have found a trace of it.
Ah, that’s excellent. Somehow I missed that detail. Thanks!
Aaaaaaand, boom-yow!
Do you mean you will start using the word “skookum”, or that you will start appropriating someone, with or without compensation? :eek:
It depends on what the meaning of “it” is. 
You’re smart. I’m sure you can figure it out.
I use it frequently and even started a thread about it a while back:
Wow, I didn’t imagine that anyone had posted a thread about such an odd word before.
But it appears that there was an even older thread:
What demographic group do you associate with the word “skookum?”
Anyway, I plan on invoking this word on a regular basis now. It expresses the concept of “robustness” and “fit for purpose” in a pleasing manner. (and I’m tired of referring to things as being robust).
That looks like the right book, indeed, although I likely remember a later edition. Great find, thanks!
Funny, I’ve heard it occasionally from people from out West, but did not specifically associate it with Canadians or even Aboriginal peoples really.