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

[David D. Robertson]

I found something like 700 hits for <tolo dance> using Google.

Nearly without exception, the terms "tolo" or "tolo dance", meaning a (?
semi-)formal social event to which girls/women invite boys/men, is limited
to Washington State.

Specifically, the range of use of the term is from the Richland / Pasco /
Kennewick tri-cities along the Columbia River westward, as well as all of
Washington westward from the Cascade Mountains.

The two exceptions I found were from Benjamin Bosse High School in
Evansville, Indiana (no date but apparently very recent), and the Kappa Chi
Epsilon college fraternity in Sacramento, California in 1965.  Maybe both
of these tolo dances originated with emigrants from Washington State.  I
was surprised to find no occurrences of the term in Oregon or British
Columbia.

I gave up counting after a while -- suffice it to say I found at least 30
locations where tolo dances have been held, from 1946 (earliest citation
found) at the Bremerton Yacht Club to this year (my former boss says her
niece just went to a tolo dance a few days ago).

Some amusing lore:

Students at the following schools are getting far more than the national
average of exposure to Chinook Jargon, given the school names and the
custom of tolo dances -- Klahowya Senior Secondary in Silverdale and
Tumwater HS.

In the Poulsbo area, at least, the evening of the tolo dance isn't complete
without the Tyee Tolo Dance, which according to the website I saw involves
heavy-metal headbanging.  (!)

The University of Washington's chapter of the senior honors society, the
Mortarboard, is named the Tolo Chapter and hosts a tolo dance.

In the Issaquah area, one school has the tradition of the Olot Dance, which
of course is a reverse tolo:  Boys ask girls to the dance.  This begs the
question of what kind of school dances they had before the tolo came into
fashion...

I don't know if it's still celebrated, but as far back as 1951
the "Richland Bombers" (of which my late friend Terry Grob was one)
celebrated Tolo Week every year, including the big dance.

Thank you.  Good night.

--Dave