"A Warm Wind and a Bad Headache": _NYT_ 2/8/00

[David Robertson]

(national edition, _New York Times_, Feb. 8, 2000, page D8)

"Vital Signs", by John O'Neil:

"Cause & Effect:  A Warm Wind and a Bad Headache"

"Cold winds cause headaches everywhere.  Out in Western Canada [sic],
there's a warm winter wind called the Chinook that many blame for
migraines...."

A fairly interesting, brief, article.  I'm interested in pointing out the
not exactly obscure fact that such winds are called "Chinooks" in the
Northwest USA also.  Presumably the term originated here in /wimalh
IlI7i/, the Columbia River Gorge country, and from the first referred to
winds that blow from Chinook country, no?

Alan, this has been discussed before on the list, I believe, but if you
care to interject an a propos cite or two, tant mieux.  The topic has, I
believe, direct relevance to Chinook Jargon taken as a sociological
phenomenon.

There are similar prevailing winds in other regions, which tend to be
known by regionally specific names.  Examples include "scirocco" < Arabic
/sharq/; "Santa Anna"; and so on.  I'm quite interested in learning of
other such names of winds *within the historic Chinook Jargon speech
area*.  (Not that I'm implying much of a connection between blowing hot
air and speaking ChInuk Wawa--regardless of some folks' opinions of
activity on this list!  KhEltEsh hihi.)

Around this Spokane, Washington area, far inland and up a tributary of the
Columbia, we have "Chinooks" blowing from the West across the plains of
the Columbia Plateau.  To my knowledge, I've never heard another term for
our local wind patterns, though my parents know the word "williwaw"
/wI'lEwaa/ from the years we spent in Alaska.

Another point, rambling, is that on the eastern slope of the continental
divide, in Montana, the corresponding winds are to the best of my
knowledge called "Chinooks".  My mother is from that region, by the way;
little does she know she's among my prime informants.  From both her and
my father, a native of Spokane, I've always heard the pronunciation
/shEnU'k/.  The first vowel is hardly voiced, so the word can also sound
like /shnUk/.  This looks like indirect evidence that folks around here
never heard much of the indigenous pronunciation /chInuk/.

Lhaksta kEmtEks?
Dave



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