Potlatch - a feast, a gift-giving, generally very elaborate but
can also mean a small gathering. Also the verb for "to give".
The lore of the great potlatch is too elaborate to delve
into here, but suffice to say that the institution was the centrepiece
of the Northwest economy, society, and culture and could involve days of
eating, dancing, and singing, in addition to the gift-giving. Although
it would also be used to describe one of the great feasts, potlatch
is also the jargon verb for "give".
Lahal, slahal - a native gambling and social game common throughout
the Northwest Coast and Plateau.
Involves bluffing and sleight-of-hand in a fashion similar
to the "shell game", although using sticks and bone-pieces. Not necessarily
a gambling game, but betting is widespread and often feverish. Like the
potlatch, it was banned for many years in Canada as were most native social
activities. It is still widely played in the Chilcotin region and
variants are known throughout the tribes of the Plateau and Columbia Basin.
Itlokum - the game of "hand".
Something like "scissors, paper, rock".
Tanse - dance.
Used more to refer to British-American folk/country dancing,
which was popular among natives, as opposed to traditional native dances.
Shantie - sing.
Note that this word's origins are both from the French
"chanter" and the English "shanty", and seems to have been introduced to
Chinook both via the voyageurs and the crews of the fur trade ships.
Laball, laboul - ball, a ball game
i.e. soccer-style football, rather than stickball or
baseball. Both soccer and baseball are extremely popular with native
peoples throughout the region, especially the dry Interior.
Heehee - laugh, laughter
Pukpuk - blow with a fist, fight, brawl.
The English word "box" would have been used to refer
to the sport of pugilistics, i.e. any "organized" fight.
Big Hiyu - literally "the big many" - a large public gathering,
a big party.
Not strictly speaking a jargon phrase, but using a jargon
word. The Big Hiyu was Lillooet's
annual gathering, also known as "the July", spanning the Canadian and American
national holidays from the 1st to the 4th of July. During this extended
"weekend", miners, cowboys, and natives in large numbers gathered on Lillooet's
Main Street for horse races, gambling, and copious drinking. The
term was also used in other Interior towns for large holiday gatherings,
and can still refer to a big party, as at one time did hiyu tillikums.
Skookum hiyu, on the other hand, would refer to an extremely large
number of anything.
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