I won’t disagree with your research, but there is another source that could be related as well.
In the Hawaiian pidgin, the term high makamaka means stuck up or snooty. It comes from the original word “maka” which means eye. So the high makamaka is a person whose eyes are always kept high.
The question is if it is coincidental that these cultures had similar words? Is it possible that they have been Anglo corrupted on a feedback loop to the cultures to a similar slang? Is it possible that there was some sort of weird one-off historical connection that happened between a Chinook and a Hawaiian and a few phrases were adopted? Or is it possible that it’s just us looking for a connection and letting our imaginations run wild?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Pablo:
January 9th, 2021 at 12:38 pm
I use kamuckity muck all the time. “That dudes the kamuckity muck.” Interestingly enough, I don’t believe I have used it to describe a dudette.
Peter T Parrish:
November 23rd, 2021 at 2:01 pm
I have been to Hawaii a number of times. My paternal grandfather was a agri-entrepreneur in the mid 20th century. He spent a lot of time in the San Joaquin Valley and Hawaii. He had a second home in Hanapepe Town about 20 miles to the west from Lihue on the island of Kauai. So, I had the opportunity to hike and explore Mount Waialeale and the Na Pali wilderness area and just hang out. One of the things I enjoyed learning about were the pigdin(?) phrases that used a double word (or a rhyming word) together in a larger word. Such as Hanapepe, and Waialeale. I always thought a Mucky-Muck referred to a (self) important person, and hoi polloi referred to the “masses”. So, I (1) like the idea of cross-pollination from NW indigenous people and Pacific Islanders, and (2) imagine my surprise when I found out that hoi poloi was of Greek derivation! Oy vey!
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http://www.northtechnical.org/mahara/view/artefact.php?artefact=1963&view=457:
July 13th, 2013 at 8:43 am
High-muck-a-muck « The Word Detective
Steve:
July 24th, 2017 at 2:33 pm
I won’t disagree with your research, but there is another source that could be related as well.
In the Hawaiian pidgin, the term high makamaka means stuck up or snooty. It comes from the original word “maka” which means eye. So the high makamaka is a person whose eyes are always kept high.
The question is if it is coincidental that these cultures had similar words? Is it possible that they have been Anglo corrupted on a feedback loop to the cultures to a similar slang? Is it possible that there was some sort of weird one-off historical connection that happened between a Chinook and a Hawaiian and a few phrases were adopted? Or is it possible that it’s just us looking for a connection and letting our imaginations run wild?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Pablo:
January 9th, 2021 at 12:38 pm
I use kamuckity muck all the time. “That dudes the kamuckity muck.” Interestingly enough, I don’t believe I have used it to describe a dudette.
Peter T Parrish:
November 23rd, 2021 at 2:01 pm
I have been to Hawaii a number of times. My paternal grandfather was a agri-entrepreneur in the mid 20th century. He spent a lot of time in the San Joaquin Valley and Hawaii. He had a second home in Hanapepe Town about 20 miles to the west from Lihue on the island of Kauai. So, I had the opportunity to hike and explore Mount Waialeale and the Na Pali wilderness area and just hang out. One of the things I enjoyed learning about were the pigdin(?) phrases that used a double word (or a rhyming word) together in a larger word. Such as Hanapepe, and Waialeale. I always thought a Mucky-Muck referred to a (self) important person, and hoi polloi referred to the “masses”. So, I (1) like the idea of cross-pollination from NW indigenous people and Pacific Islanders, and (2) imagine my surprise when I found out that hoi poloi was of Greek derivation! Oy vey!