Alaska Vocabulary

Cheechako - anyone who is new to the 49th state

Sourdough - an old timer: anyone who has lived in the a-k a lonnnnnnng time.

Bullchitna - you guessed it: "BS" (Chitna is a town on the Copper River)

Up Ship Creek without a paddle - meaning out of luck, helpless, etc... (Ship Creek is an actual creek in the middle of downtown Anchorage)

Termination Dust - the first snowfall that dusts our mountain peaks. This snowfall signals the end of summer/fall - usually occurs in August (yes, August!)

Outside - lower 48, or just anywhere outside of Ak

Going Outside - leaving ak for any reason

Lower 48 - the 48 continuous states

Bear "Fast Food" - tourist in sleeping bag or tent

Bear "Insurance" - your trusty .44 / other weapon, or the friend you can outrun!

Cache - hiding place or stash...in Alaska it is a small log house built on stilts to prevent wildlife - both human and animal from accessing

Permanent Fund - money we get for living in the Last Frontier (like we need to be paid!)

The "Bush" - no, not those long, unsightly beards! anyplace in Alaska accessible only by plane or boat - ok, ok, pretty much all of Alaska except for Anchorage, grin

Mosquito Dope or Bug Dope - any product used to kill/repell mosquitos which are so big here we consider them the State Bird!

Mukluks or the modern version the "Bunny boot" - mukluks are fur- lined boots that keep your tootsies toasty used by the native population and the bunny boot rubberized to keep those same tootsies warm at -50 plus!

Alpenglow - is an optical phenomonon. When the sun sets, a horizontal red glowing band can sometimes be observed to the east. In mountainous areas, like we have in Alaska, this can be caused by snow, moisture or ice, on the mountain sides which receive the scattered red light from the setting Sun.
When there are no mtns present, the aerosols in the eastern portion of the sky themselves can still be illuminated in the same way by the remaining red scattered light straddling the border of the Earth's own shadow. This back-scattered light produces a red band above the darkness rising in the east. In simpler terms: the sky is a pretty pink color just above the mountain tops!

Ice Fog - Dense fog of suspended ice particles that sparkle in the air on a sunny/partly sunny day.

Moose nuggets - moose droppings: will surprise you because moose scat is not large like in the size of cowpies or horse manure...instead, looks like a pile of walnuts! We sell dried moose dropping to you tourists in the form of earrings, swizzlesticks, necklaces, keychains, etc...proving anyone on a vacation will buy just about anything...

Musher - person who drives sled dog team...yells gee and haw (left and right) and mush, mush -sometimes runs/races in the Iditarod (the Last Great Race)

Ulu - Knife used by native Alaskans (OO-loo) is a versatile cutting tool crafted by the Native Alaskan people thousands of years ago. The knife was used by Eskimo women for skinning and cleaning fish. It has played an important role in the survival of the Arctic people. Blades were originally made of polished slate and given a bone, ivory or wood handle. The handles were often inscribed with distinctive drawings or markings exclusive to the maker of the knife.
Today, we still use the ULU as a cutting tool. We also display ulus as collector items.

Cabin fever - light -deprived Alaskans who don't go out and take advantage of winter activities i.e. drinking, skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, snowmobiling, may become crazy with the cabin fever

Three Dog Night - so cold that huddling up with two dogs doesn't do the trick

Combat fishing - fishing shoulder to shoulder during height of season with hundreds of tourists, yelling "fish on" - weaving and ducking under other peoples' poles to get fish...usually occurs on the Kenai Peninsula especially near the confluence of the Kenai and Russian Rivers.

Moose Gooser - similar to cattle catcher on the front of a train - see this on the Alaska Railroad

Spenard Divorce - Spenard used to be the seedier part of Anchorage and a divorce there included a lot of hollering, brawling and gun totin

Permafrost - below the surface, ground is frozen for two to five feet. Makes it unbelievably hard to do any kind of burying or road work.

Break-up - see story posted below...

Sun Dog - a large circle seen around the sun on very cold days

Fireweed - see post below, but the weed commonly growing all over ak - especially southcentral, (no! not that weed)!


Ice Worms - minute worms that hang out in glacial ice