Features Feb 13, 2019 at 4:00 am

What "Puyallup," "Leschi," and "geoducks" are, and how to say them.

When Mount Rainier explodes, it will destroy Puyallup first. Learn to say it before it’s rubble! Jessica Stein

Comments

1

Only say Pew Allup if you also say Wanda Fyooca

4

@2 you know, there are people in southern red states that say the same thing about Mexicans.

Everywhere is always going to change, forever. People are going to come and go, and change everything in the process. Accept it, you'll live longer.

5

Really couldn't resist shitting on Bezos huh? The Stranger is the most juvenile publication in the world and that includes the Enquirer.

6

Ahem. It is not Clay-Lock. It is Cal-lay-lock. You damn dirty apes!

7

5

"He has more than $135 billion and one of the richest companies in history,
and yet he held Seattle hostage over $12.4 million for the homeless."

If he (Bee-Zoze) and his Billionaire Buds keep on insisting on keeping it all to themselfs ('hoarding' ['whore-ding'], it's called), it's gonna be Them what's the Homeless.

(provided we still can get pitchforks and tiki-torches thru the Prime).

8

"Geoduck (GOOEY-duck): A massive clam that resides on the beaches of Puget Sound and can live more than 150 years, forming a giant penis-like body. It is edible."

That porn-star-worthy appendage? Not its body. Because they live deep in the sand, it needs a really l o n g neck (to see what's going on, topside). It's more a giraffe clam, but, sadly, the Natives never safari'd all that much over (back) to Africa.

You can eat the neck, but you hafta pound the bejesus out of it to be able to enjoy it.
(Now there's one for Humpfest).

9

AceCH @5: The guy literally put his balls on Seattle. He teabags the city and we're the immature ones for not liking the fuck?

(that being said, he's getting some grudging respect for this whole "stolen dick-pics" thing. Take 'em down, ya teabagger!)

10

Lester, you outed yourself: there is no official pronunciation of Sealth, as requested by Chief Sealth himself. (Although I suspect it's Se-al-tuh which is easy to anglicanize into Seattle)

@6 thanks I was wondering if I had been wrong my whole life

11

@10:

Technically, not correct. In the contemporary Duwamish language his name is spelled "Si'ahl", which, in the spoken Lushootseed dialect in common use among the Coast Salish of central Puget Sound at the time the first settlers arrived, would have been pronounced as roughly "See-aheehl". The final phoneme has no English language equivalent, but is formed by first making a light "ah" sound (as in "yacht") and then placing the tip of the tongue at the middle of the roof of one's mouth and pushing air out both sides of the mouth; think of it as sounding more like a hissing sound, but with a "hhhh" instead of the sibilant "ssss", and with a slight "lh" at the end, which can be accomplished by dropping the tongue.

I can find no official record of Chief Sealth specifically requesting his name not be uttered, but it was a common practice among the Coast Salish at the time to not speak the names of the recently deceased for several years, as it was believed doing so might return them unwillingly to the land of the living. However, it's my understanding they did not extend this breach of etiquette to his anglicized name.

13

Nah, "SEE-ah-lsch" is not helpful, you'd get closer just by saying Seattle. Hear Vi Hilbert (an elder who was probably the last heritage Lushootseed speaker) pronounce the name:

http://www.historylink.org/File/5071

14

@6 & 10: I've always heard it as : ka-lay-lock. But it's most def NOT clay-lock. Sheesh.

15

Great educational piece. I love folks moving here. My housing prices have rocketed. The tenant stuff is a pain . . . but I'd rather have people moving here than moving out - remember the 70's .. oh probably not. What the heck is Brooklyn thinking and why the heck do Seattle politicians hate successful businesses.

16

14 - ever been to Kalaloch? It's pronounced "clay-lock". Sheesh - I live out here.

17

The anglicized pronunciation is very approximate so it's unclear that anyone's feathers should be ruffled by deviations from the modern standard. Anyone knows if the [ai] sound in Skykomish is legit in Salish?

I am surprised Humptulips didn't make the list.

18

@17 yep, there's an ai diphthong.

http://www.native-languages.org/lushootseed_guide.htm

19

@18 Ha! Glad to be wrong. Nice link.

20

Complete omission of Chief Leschi, leader of the Nisqually tribe who was sentenced to death by hanging by the Governor. Nobody believed he was guilty as charged, but he had been defending his territory, which included King, Pierce, and Thurston Counties, among others. So not only was his land stolen, but his name as well.

21

Steilacoom should be on the list; people think they can logic it.

22

Since I'm on the Peninsula, I like hearing Pysht, Seiku and Waatch.....

23

To pronounce Uwajimaya, pretend you are Elmer Fudd and are excited because just saw a famous person named Roger Meyer.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.