# Skookum - Do you know this word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338 "2011-04-06T01:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/21 "2011-04-06T15:08:11Z")
Grew up in PA and have not heard the word before. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/22 "2011-04-06T15:41:44Z")
I’ve heard that word before. I thought it meant strong or powerful and was from the Pacific Northwest/ Washington State area. I’ve not been west of the prairies. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/23 "2011-04-06T16:23:42Z")
Grew up in the Northwest, and heard that all my life. As a matter of fact, my dad used it this morning on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/24 "2011-04-06T16:46:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > A Tagish Indian who was known as Skookum Jim is credited with making the initial gold discovery that started the Klondike gold rush. Hm. I thought I’d heard of the name “Skookum Joe”, but maybe that’s the name I was thinking of. At any rate, I didn’t know the meaning (raised in Sask.). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/25 "2011-04-06T16:52:19Z")
Sorry for the double post, but here’s a previous “skookum” conversation: > **[What demographic group do you associate with the word "skookum?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=441770)** > > I’ve been hearing “skookum” a bit more frequently in my day-to-day life than I have since I was a child. I don’t recall hearing the word much at all throughout the eighties and most of the nineties, but then it began to resurface - and it seems to... ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/26 "2011-04-06T17:07:30Z")
I’ve certainly heard of it…but I had no idea what it means. Alberta girl. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/27 "2011-04-06T17:48:21Z")
Never heard of it. Midwestern US, born & raised. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/28 "2011-04-06T18:09:40Z")
Never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/29 "2011-04-06T18:23:25Z")
Never heard of it. Raised in Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/30 "2011-04-06T18:24:40Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Hm. I thought I’d heard of the name “Skookum Joe”, but maybe that’s the name I was thinking of. At any rate, I didn’t know the meaning (raised in Sask.). Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie were co-discoverers of the gold fields. Joe Juneau is who Juneau, AK is named for. There are several reference to “Skookum Joe” on Google, one of which is Skookum Joe Canyon in Montana. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/31 "2011-04-06T18:44:24Z")
Skookum is from Chinook Jargon and means strong or aggressive. Chinook Jargon is not quite a native language but rather a amalgam of native and outside influences from the trading partners of the NW coastal indians. Chuck means water. There are many areas in the NW refered to as Skookumchuck or strong/fast water. Usually in reference to rapids or tidal currents. > **[Chinook Jargon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_Jargon)** > > Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa or Chinook Wawa, also known simply as Chinook or Jargon) is a language originating as a pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and parts of Alaska, Northern California, Idaho and Montana while sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language. It is partly descended from the Chinook language, upon which much of Ma... > **[Skookumchuck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skookumchuck)** > > Skookumchuck (/ˈskuːkəmtʃʌk/) is a Chinook Jargon term that is in common use in British Columbia English and occurs in Pacific Northwest English. Skookum means "strong" or "powerful", and "chuck" means water, so skookumchuck means "rapids" or "whitewater" (literally, "strong water"), or fresh, healthy water. It can mean any rapids, but in coastal usage refers to the powerful tidal rapids at the mouths of most of the major coastal inlets. > Places named Skookumchuck include: > Tidal rapids termed s... Is that Skookum with you, Chuck? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/32 "2011-04-06T18:59:19Z")
Also from Chinook Jargon comes the word Potlatch, or as we now call it Pot Luck. It means to bring something, damn it! we are having a party! And also Tillikum, which means “friend”. No explanation should be needed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/33 "2011-04-06T20:35:20Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Skookum is from Chinook Jargon and means strong or aggressive. You might as well also link the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skookum) for skookum itself. It seems strong is only one definition of many. And, no, I’ve never heard of it, and, yes, I thought it was “snookum” at first. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338/34 "2011-04-06T20:43:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You might as well also link the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skookum) for skookum itself. It seems strong is only one definition of many. That link is too general to get to the meaning as it is used in the NW. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skookum-do-you-know-this-word/577338.md?page=1)