An old Washington State College football cheer

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Well, to my memory of elders' usage, in early-mid 20th century NW
slang, "high muckymuck" had little to do with food but was somewhat
pejorative, meaning "big shot," though it certainly derived from
dining, i.e., literally meaning  those who sit at the head of the
table/next to those at the head of the table to eat.

In the case of the cheer, I might imagine the repeated "muck-e-i" may
have meant something like "drink, drink [to Washington,]" though
someone who was there (or more likely these days a child of someone
who was there) will be needed to attest to this possible local
permutation.

I do recall hearing "muckmuckmuck" used meaning "I/we/they ate it all
up" or "(it was) pretty fine food;" this usage last heard by me,
however, when I was in Seattle 17 years ago.  

J.

On Sat, 27 Oct 2001 14:08:55 -0400, "David D. Robertson"
<ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU> wrote:

>Klahowya,
>
>Here's an odd bit of info that's been an in-joke in my family for years.
>Only now have I thought of a possible, if remote, connection with Chinook
>Jargon.
>
>One of my brothers found an old Washington State College (now WSU; located
>in Pullman) book of college songs several years ago, dating to the 1920's if
>I recall.
>
>One of the football cheers in it which we found intensely humorous included
>the words "Muck-e-i!  Muck-e-i!  Washington-e-i!"
>
>I think my family has analyzed these as faux Linnaean, you know, name a
>species after yourself:  Glossophilus Robertsonii.
>
>But out of thin air yesterday (at work, Karen, sorry), this cheer came back
>to me, suddenly sounding like perverse Popular Chinook Jargon of that era
>when plenty of folks knew at least a few words of CJ -- one of the
>best-known being "mucky-muck" for "eat / food".
>
>Perhaps a badge of intense regional pride, if so?  If not so, perhaps more
>of a jeer, like "here's mud in your eye!"?
>
>Ikta mesika tumtum?
>
>Dave (kopa house)