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

[terry glavin]

this from wayne grady's book, "chasing the chinook: on the trail of canadian
words and culture":

 "Whether gentle or daemonic, the chinook makes itself felt most noticeably
in southern Alberta and Montana but blows as far north and east as
Battleford, Saskatchewan. It takes its name from the Chinook Indians, who
occupied a territory art the mouth of the Columbia River, in the present
state of Washington (the direction of which, if you're in Alberta, the wind
seems to come)."

 Wayne goes on to make a right cockup of a description of lalang. Otherwise
it's a lovely book.

 Alexander Mackenzie described the effects of a chinook wind having caused
"the atmosphere to become so warm that it dissolved all the snow on the
gruond, even the ice was covered with water, and had the same appearance as
when it is breaking up in the spring."

 lots of folklore about the wind. Dave McDougall, son of a missionary to the
Banff area, alleged that while out across the country with a team and
bobsleigh once, the snow melted so fast "the front runners were on snow but
the back runners were on mud."

 and so on.

 tg.


-----Original Message-----
From: David Robertson <drobert at TINCAN.TINCAN.ORG>
To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Date: 12 February 2000 15:53
Subject: "A Warm Wind and a Bad Headache": _NYT_ 2/8/00


>(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
>
>
>
> *VISIT the archives of the CHINOOK jargon and the SALISHAN & neighboring*
>     <=== languages lists, on the Web! ===>
>    http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/salishan.html
>    http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/chinook.html