Dictionary of the American West

O

O obsidian A black volcanic glass used by Indians for arrow and spear points. Found mainly from the Rockies west, it was a trade item to Eastern Indians. ocean water A Navajo term for an improvised intoxicating beverage made by agitating hairspray with water, used by teenagers (and probably others) to get a cheap high. Also takes the short form ocean. ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh) A cactuslike shrub of the Southwest (Fouquieria splendends) consisting of long, slender sticks that bear striking red flowers in the spring. It’s also called coachwhip cactus. Borrowed from Spanish. off his feed Cowboy talk for someone who’s looking poorly or feeling bad. off the reservation When said of nineteenth-century Indians, literally off their assigned ground, with the implication that they were hunting, raiding, or otherwise acting up. By extension, a way of describing a person who’s out of turn or out of bounds. A weak-minded person might have been called off his mental reservation. oiler A slang name for a Mexican. Like greaser, it was surely derogatory. ojala! (oh-hah-LAH) In the Southwest, an interjection of approval. Borrowed from Spanish (in which it means “I hope so”). Ojibway (oh-JIB-way; oh-jib-WAY) A large Algonquian tribe of the western Great Lakes region, also known as the Chippewa. In the Algonquian language both names refer to the puckered seam on their moccasins. They call themselves Anishinabe, “the first men.” Historically, they had a woodlands culture that was in many ways the ancestor of the Plains Indian culture: They lived in tipi-like shelters, hunted and gathered (especially wild rice), and farmed. Central to their religion was the Midewiwin, Grand Medicine Society. Contacted early by French fur traders, the Ojibway became important in the beaver trade, and major allies of the French against the British and the Americans. With the guns they traded for, this numerous and powerful tribe also drove the Dakota onto the Great Plains. Now the Ojibway live on reservations in states along the Canadian border from Michigan to Montana and in two provinces of Canada. ojo (OH-hoh) In the Southwest, a spring, especially a hot spring (ojo caliente). Borrowed from Spanish (in which it means “eye”). Okie (1) A migratory worker from Oklahoma. John Steinbeck immortalized the plight of some of these people during the Great Depression in his novel Grapes Okie
257 of Wrath. Also any Oklahoman. (2) Among loggers, Okie was a derogatory term, implying an incompetent. Oklahoma combinations: Oklahoma rain (a sandstorm), Oklahoma Run (the Oklahoma land rush of 1889), an Oklahoma (a temporary shack during the Oklahoma Run), Oklahoma fever (the land hunger that brought people there). old In the West as elsewhere, often a term of camaraderie or rank with no reference to age. Thus young mountain men called each other old coon and old hoss in comradeship. The boss of a cow outfit was called old man while still in his twenties , and so on. combinations: Old Ephraim or Old Caleb (the grizzly bear), old fruit (in Texas slang, the genuine article, the real McCoy), Old Hickory (a shirt of a dark blue checked material, common on the frontier prior to the Civil War), Old Pills (what loggers called the doctor), Old Reliable (cowboy talk for the Sharps rifle), old settler (any early settler, especially a Cherokee who settled in the West before 1819), old sledge (all-fours or seven-up), old socks (a logger’s name for a buddy), old woman or old lady (the cookie, who was male). old-growth forest Forest with its natural cycles essentially undisturbed by logging, road-building, or clearing. Such forests are valued because they provide habitat for animals (such as the spotted owl) unable to adjust to conditions brought by intrusion, permit scientists to observe the workings of untouched natural systems, and for other reasons. (Some forests that have been cut selectively rather than clear-cut may still be considered old-growth.) The issue of whether to log such forest has been especially heated in the Pacific Northwest for more than two decades because the economies of Oregon and Washington depend heavily on logging. Also called ancient forest or original forest. old ivory In Alaska, so-called fossil ivory, tusks of walrus or other creatures valued by carvers for its yellow staining, due to aging. New ivory is seasoned but still white; green ivory is from newly killed animals and so is very white. old man cactus In the...