Regional dialect
If some Alaskan tells you he saw a sourdough go into the Bush right after breakup, you might be a bit confused.
That's because we've got our own regional dialect in the Last Frontier. Here are some words that may help you understand "Alaskan" a bit better:
- Breakup: It marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. It's usually messy. The basis of the word comes from when melting snow raises the level of ice-covered rivers and streams, causing the ice to break apart and float downstream.
- Bush: The Bush is anywhere in Alaska that's off the road system.
- Cheechako: Describes a newcomer, generally someone who hasn't spent a winter in Alaska.
- Denali: It's what most Alaskans call Mount McKinley. It translates as "the high one" in an Athabascan language.
- Fireweed: The magenta-colored perennial herb that blooms in midsummer. Its blooms gradually turn cottony in autumn, signalling the approach of winter.
- Interior: The area around Fairbanks.
- Outside: Any place other than Alaska. You might hear the phrase, "He's from Outside."
- PAC: The Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage. The PAC is home to many arts performances.
- Sleeping Lady: The local name for Mount Susitna, visible across Cook Inlet from Anchorage.
- Sourdough: Any Alaska or Yukon old-timer.
- Southcentral: The area of Alaska between the Gulf of Alaska and the Alaska Range. Included in Southcentral are Anchorage, the Mat-Su area, Kodiak, Valdez and all of the Kenai Peninsula.
- Southeast: Also called the Panhandle, it stretches from Icy Bay near Yakutat to the U.S.-Canada border. Juneau, Haines, Sitka, Skagway and Ketchikan are in Southeast.
- Termination dust: If you're around in late summer, you might see it. It's the first light snow on the mountains; it signals summer is ending.
- The Valley: Part of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The area includes Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake and Willow. You will frequently hear it called the Mat-Su.
- And don't forget the world-record fish caught in Alaska waters: Les Anderson's 97-pound, 4-ounce king salmon, caught in 1985, and Jack Tragis' 459-pound halibut, from 1996.
