Mixed blood, etc.

[Ros' Haruo]

My ancestors arrived in the the state of Washington mostly between 1885 and
1915, and my maternal grandparents farmed a small stead in Skagit County
(north of Sedro-Woolley) in the '20s. From that side of the family, I
learned as a child (early '60s) the 1898 Jessie Odlin poem that begins "On
the banks of the mighty Skagit, in the haunts of the Siwash and slug" (the
whole thing is here: http://www.geocities.com/skagitjournal/OdlinPoem.html
). I have no idea whether Ms. Odlin intended it pejoratively or not; I
certainly didn't take it so as a kid. Pairing the term with a mollusc that
hasn't even got a shell to sleep in was probably motivated by alliteration
more than semantics. The poem is definitely part of the living culture of my
extended family; I should take a poll some Thanksgiving and see how many of
them have a clue what "Siwash" refers to.

I have also run into the word in the expression "Old Siwash" as a jocular
and mildly pejorative term of endearment for a less-than-state-of-the-art
backwoods university, the sort of place the "hicks from the sticks" might
get their masters' degrees, similar to the way Seattleites refer to the
school in Pullman, WA, as "Moo U". Again, I doubt if one in a hundred who so
uses "Siwash" has any idea there's an "Amerindian" connotation.

lilEnd

>From: John Doe <chris24 at TELEPORT.COM>
>Reply-To: John Doe <chris24 at TELEPORT.COM>
>To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>Subject: Re: Mixed blood, etc.
>Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 19:41:58 -0700
>
>The first time I heard the word "siwash" in English was in a class
>of Erna Gunther's (an elder) at UW in the mid 60's.  She said not to use it
>to or about Indians.  I may have heard it subsequently used in its
>pejorative
>sense from another white elder.  I guess this dates me.
>
>alta nayka Latawa
>Chris Schindler




        ROS' Haruo / 204 N 39th / Seattle WA 98103 / Usono
    lilandbr at scn.org / lilandbr at hotmail.com / tel 206-633-2434
TTT-Himnaro Cigneta : http://www.geocities.com/cigneto/pretaj.html
Nove en La Lilandejo : http://www.geocities.com/lilandr/novaj.html
      ("la Esperantisto antauxe nomata Liland Brajant Ros'")


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