Alaska Adventure Travel tours

Alaska Adventure Travel Tours for the Independent Traveler ~ 1-800-999-8566 info@visit-alaska.net

~Alaskan Jargon, Terms and Expressions ~

Alaska is rich in history, native culture and local "unique lifestyles". Over the years some interesting terms and expressions have evolved....we thought you might enjoy reading through a list.

~ Blue Ticket: One-way passage issued to the "outside" by the territorial government to less than desirable citizens.

~ Cache: An elevated storage cabin used to keep provisions away from animals.

~ Cheechako: During the gold rush years "a newcomer to the North".

~ Dog Salmon: During the gold rush years "a newcomer to the North".

~ Eskimo Ice Cream: Crisco shortening with local berries.

~ Guspuk: A lightweight, very colorful cotton summer "parky" worn as a dress.

~ Hootchenoo: Powerful home brew, origin of slang word Hootch.

~ Mukluks: fur boots

~ Muktuk: An Eskimo delicacy. the outer skin of the whale with a layer of fat attached eaten raw.

~ Mush: The voice command given by a dogmusher to start pulling the sled (a native version of the French marche)

~ Outside: The term used for the "lower 48 states".

~ Parky: How parka is pronounced in the far north.

~ Permafrost: Permanently frozen ground beneath the surface water that thaws in spring.

~ Ski-wheel: A combination that allows a bush plane to land on snow or hard packed surfaces.

~ Skookum: An Indian word for big and strong.

~ Sourdough: An old-timer in Alaska, a name that came from the fermented dough used by prospectors who didn't have yeast.

~ Taildragger: A bush plane with a rear wheel, often with oversized tundra tires.

~ Taiga: The scrub evergreen forests of sub-arctic Alaska.

~ Toklat: An interior grizzly bear with a reddish-tan coat. The larger coastal grizzly is called an Alaskan Brown.

~ Tundra: The swampy, rolling plains that cover much of the Interior.

~ Ulu: Native fish knife with a half-round blade.