Monday, January 11, 2010

Palouser?


Just finished reading The Big Burn by Timothy Egan. A great read. All the action takes place within about a hundred miles of Spokane. I can't get enough of books like these, ones that chronicle a historic event with good characterizations. When you read about the political temperament of the early 20th century, you realize that the same battles are being fought today by the same characters. Although, it seems the citizenry was much more engaged at the time and weren't so easily buffaloed. This morning's article detailing the GOP's attempt to "protect" Obama by condemning Harry Reid because of a racist remark he made years ago comes to mind. Pathetic. Republican attempts at this kind of shameless chicanery were met with scorn and ridicule in the aftermath of the fire of 1910 by the press, by the people and at the ballot box.

I have a lot of local exploring to do this summer, thanks to this book. One thing though. The author talks about how we in eastern Washington refer to a wind blowing from the Palouse as a "Palouser." I had never heard of "palouser." Talking to others, no one else has either. Have you ever heard this word before? Pal Louser? Puh Loser? P'Looser?

I read In Pharoah's Army a few weeks ago and the author claimed that during the Vietnam War he watched The Gong Show. Only if he had a time machine, I think. When I read things like the Palouser and the TV reference, it makes my undiagnosed OCD really flare.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have lived in Spokane all my life. Never heard the term palouser. Hmm, almost sounds like nor easter.

Andrew

Traditional Bike Club Curmudgeon said...

I am a 63 year Eastern Washingtonian/Spokanite and I have never heard the term "Palouser".

Anonymous said...

My wife is reading this book and I, too was looking up the term Palouser. I was born and raised in Spokane and went to WSU. We had Chinook wind that melted the snow but i never heard of Palouser. Google led to this blog and some on-line dictionaries that had the term.

Unknown said...

I was raised in Montana and experienced Chinooks but I also have never heard of a,Palouser, though the Palouse is an area in Idaho I've heard of.

Unknown said...

I was raised in Montana and experienced Chinooks but I also have never heard of a,Palouser, though the Palouse is an area in Idaho I've heard of.

Anonymous said...

Palouser seems to be a term from northern Idaho.
See https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/bigburn/about.html