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skookumchuck
[< Chinook Jargon skookum 'strong' + chuck 'water']
DCHP-3 (May 2025)
Spelling variants:skookum chuck, skookum-chuck
1n. — rare, esp. British Columbia, Yukon
a rapid, white water or a very swift current (relating to fresh water).
Type: 1. Origin — A combination of two Chinook Jargon words, skookumchuck is the Chinook Jargon word for 'rapids' (see the 18-- quotation from a Chinook Jargon dictionary). The term entered into BC English as is today used as a local identity marker to signal "BC" or "Yukon" etc.
Chart 1 shows the term is most frequent in Canada, with varying uptake internationally.
Chart 1 shows the term is most frequent in Canada, with varying uptake internationally.
Quotations
18--
Skoo-kum. Strong; strength; a ghost; an evil spirit or demon. Skookum tumtum, brave; Skookum chuck, a rapid.
1867
Ans.—Yes; they did, between the Cowlitz and the Skookum Chuck, as they tried a variety of trails before they finally decided upon the trail or road they used and bridged it.
1887
Accordingly we arranged to meet at Skookumchuck Creek ("the stream of the rapid torrent").
1922
If so, you have listened to the call of the Skookum Chuck, as the Chinook speakers call the rollicking, tumbling streams that sing their way through the canyons with a music so dulcet, so insistent, that for many moons the echo of it lingers in your listening ears. . . .
1958
Sometimes as many as six services are held on a Sunday and between any two such services may be miles of stormy water and a couple of skookum chucks. . . .
1999
Native bands outside the proposed development, but within the region, include the Musqueam Band, the Skookum Chuck Band, the Sechelt Band and the Katzie Band.
2n. — very rare, esp. British Columbia & Yukon
a tidal rapid or tidal rip (relating to ocean water).
Type: 1. Origin — A second meaning relates to saltwater and seem to have been developed in BC Engilsh independently from the donor language Chinook Jargon. In that language saltchuck 'saltwater, sea, ocean' can generally not be shorted to chuck, making it difficult to discern the precise context, unless it is clear what the context refers to. Early uses indiscriminately refer to meaning 1.
Quotations
1940
Skookum chuck means tidal rapids.
1958
But eastward across the skookumchuck on the mainland up the Fraser River . . . the . . . tribes watched beside their game trails. . . .
1958
Sometimes as many as six services are held on a Sunday and between any two such services may be miles of stormy water and a couple of skookum chucks. . . .
3n. — Geography, esp. British Columbia & Yukon
in place names, such as for Skookumchuck, BC, or Skookumchuck Narrows on the Sunshine Coast.
Type: 1. Origin — As a toponym, skookumchuck is found early in multiple places in BC and the west coast (see, e.g., the 1887 quoutation). The term serves today as a marker of local identity in contrast to the more widely used and more common Rapids or White Water.
Place names are today by far the most frequent use of the term.
Place names are today by far the most frequent use of the term.
Quotations
1887
Accordingly we arranged to meet at Skookumchuck Creek ("the stream of the rapid torrent").
1936
Mrs. Kenneth Macbeth of Toronto, accompanied by her two daughters, the Misses Jean and Shirley, and her son Jack arrived at Skookumchuck, B.C. las week to spend the summer at the Half Diamond S Ranch.
1979
Egmont is on the Sechelt Narrows near the Skookumchuck Rapids, one of the world's few salt water rapids.
2007
Residents in the Kootenay River Valley from Skookumchuck to Wasa are breathing easier these days after several days of noxious odors swept through the valley in late November from the Tembec pulp mill.
2012
The lever needed to activate a safety mechanism was missing from the boat that capsized on the Skookum-chuck Narrows along the Sunshine Coast, the Transportation Safety Board confirmed Thursday..
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