Skookum

I sub­scribe to sev­er­al dif­fer­ent “word of the day” lists. Some are tech­ni­cal, like the whatis.com list. One is from Buzz­whack. Sev­er­al are just “nor­mal” lists.

Every time there’s actu­al­ly a new-to-me word on one of them, I get all excited.

skookum (SKOO-kuhm) adjective

Pow­er­ful; first-rate; impressive.

“Beth Bak­er of Knik may be an Idi­tar­od rook­ie, but she’s a skookum
one.”
Opin­ion; Anchor­age Dai­ly News (Alas­ka); Mar 18, 1994. 

“His big sell­er is the Zoop­er Bud­dy, an all-ter­rain vehi­cle with
three inflat­able tires, an adjustable han­dle bar, amazing
sus­pen­sion and a skookum reclin­ing seat.”
Karen Gram; Stroller Envy; Van­cou­ver Sun (Cana­da); Oct 21, 2003.

The mes­sage also informed me that 2005 is The Year of Lan­guages in the US.