1857, Olympia, WA: Kultiss Skookum!
From the earliest days of journalism in muddy Washington Territory, folks were slinging Chinook Jargon at each other.Have you ever encountered the earlyish Chinuk Wawa vocabulary that’s credited to A.N. Armstrong? The one where he humbly includes a (bad) translation of his last name as < La-mah scu-cum >?
Well, in today’s political screed, excerpted below, you’ll find someone else’s surname put into Jargon, only to insult the guy…
And yes, there’s no translation into English given by the news editor, because no readers needed one.
Kultiss [‘weak/no-good’] Skookum [‘Strong’].
The last number of the Republican con-
tains a letter from this important personage,
in which a large amount of billingsgate is
attempted to be thrown upon that old hero
of democracy, Hon. SETH CATLIN. The
man whose name heads this article, as call-
ed by those acquainted with him, is “KUL
TUS” STRONG, in juxtaposition to the honest
Strongs in our territory. The name is well
merited, for he is just exactly very “kul-
tiss.” During our short experience in the
territory, we have never known a man so
impertinent as the aforesaid kultiss hom-
bre.…
— from the Olympia (Washington Territory) Pioneer and Democrat of July 3, 1857, page 2, column 3
