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 Discover AnchorageAlaskanaCan You Speak Alaskan? Just as inhabitants of different regions of the country have dialects and language unique to them, Alaskans have a lexicon of their own that can be baffling to cheechakos (see below). Try to get up to speed on these before you arrive, will ya? Lower 48: the forty-eight contiguous United States. Hawaii doesn't count. Outside: literally anyplace is not in Alaska, always capitalized, as in "Senator Ted Stevens is planning a trip Outside to attend a legislative conference in Boise." Cheechako: (pronounced chee-CHA-ko) a word used to describe "tenderfeet," or those new to Alaska and life in the North. Sourdough: a yeast mixture used to make bread and pancakes that sustained Alaskan pioneers on the trail. Also, a word used to describe Alaska's old-timers as in "Old Sourdough Jim, he's been mining that claim for 30 years." Denali: An Athabascan word meaning "the high one," otherwise known as Mt. McKinley. No self-respecting Alaskan refers to Denali as Mt. McKinley. Bush Pilots: pilots who serve rural Alaska communities not accessible by road, providing transport of people and supplies. Northern Lights: known technically as the aurora borealis, a spectacular display of light and color that results from sunspot activity that sends charged protons and electrons on a collision course with ions in the earth's magnetic field. Termination Dust: name given to the season's first visible snow on the mountaintops; refers to the "termination" of summer and the onset of winter. Anchorage residents gauge winter's approach by observing the gradual descent of snow to ever-lower elevations of the Chugach Mountains, until snow finally blankets the city. Breakup: refers specifically to the breakup of ice-covered streams and rivers, and generally to the early part of Spring when snow begins to melt on city streets. Alaskans celebrate breakup in various ways; one of the strangest is the Nenana Ice Classic, which invites Alaskans to bet on the exact date and time of the breakup of the Tanana River. And you thought state lotteries were fun! Cache: a storage area for food and supplies, shaped like a cabin, and elevated to keep intruding animals (especially bears) at bay. APU students living in the dorms do not have to construct their own caches; indoor space for food storage is adequate. Taiga: (pronounced TI-ga) taken from a Russian word that means "land of little sticks," a word used to describe the ubiquitous spindly white and black spruce forests of southcentral and interior Alaska. The Slope: refers to Alaska's North Slope oil fields, some of the largest in the world. |
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