Recent article on CJ; "tolo" as regional English word

[Tony Johnson]

Nayka shiks,

For what it is worth, I too am aware of tolos from my younger days in SW Washington.  "Tulu" (as we write and say it in Grand Ronde) also can mean to "earn."  As in "tulu-tala" = "earn money." 

LaXayEm--Tony A. Johnson
sawash-ili7i
(Grand Ronde, OR)

>>> "David D. Robertson" <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU> 04/04/03 08:30AM >>>
Liland,

Thanks very much for your confirmation of "tolo" as a regional English
item.  I wonder whether the OED will have an interest in including it.
(Alan?)

It certainly is interesting to speculate on how "tolo" meaning "win"
or "beat (at a game)" came to be the name of a dance.  One has a rough idea
that this is a "Sadie Hawkins" or "owl" dance -- is that the right term? --
where the women have beaten the men at their own game.  Poker also comes to
mind, particularly the rule that some people follow that says the winner of
a hand gets to "call" the next game.

--Dave

On Fri, 4 Apr 2003 01:56:45 +0000, Ros' Haruo <lilandbr at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>Very interesting. We had a tolo when I was at Lake Washington High School
>(1969-72). Don't recall the details (wasn't much of a dancer in high
>school). Anybody know how this term made its semantic journey?