What They Were Hunting For
Finished the second book of McPhee’s Coming Into The Country. The land is clearly the star of the work. Though the second book is ostensibly about the urban areas, the people are hollow and the forces of nature are pushed center stage. It’s framed around the search for a new capital, to replace the remote and inhospitable Juneau. It rains so much in Juneau that the houses remain unpainted— it’s never dry enough. The wind blows so hard it breaks wind gauges constantly, etc.
There were some interesting facts considering the process of planning a location for a new city, and comparisons with Brasilia and Canberra. I had no idea that Canberra was planned by Walter Burley Griffin of Chicago. McPhee describes Canberra as “a somewhat sterile place, undeniably attractive,”— “it has tended to depress some visitors because it offers nothing but government, and no relief from government” (138). I could say the same thing about the second book of Coming Into The Country.
However, it is worth sharing the discovery that the word “hooch” comes from Alaska. “The Indians of the archipelago distilled a drink they called hoochinoo” (141). The only other passage worthy of note is the argument for keeping the capital in Juneau, because of its remoteness and secrecy:
“Shouldn’t the state capital be near the population center?” I asked him.
“That argument doesn’t hold. The spectrum of public pressure is larger where people are. Can you imagine a march of welfare people? In Juneau, you don’t have pressures like that. You can sit with a clear head and do your work.” (159).
Somehow, one would expect a bureaucrat to respond that way. Secrecy is essential for any bureaucracy.
In stumbling across that bit in McPhee about the origin of the word “hooch” — delightful (later found it in my dictionary as well) — I wondered about the derivation of “hoochicoo.” Not sure about the spelling or where I’ve seen or heard this word … I think it’s one of those Prohibition era words like flim-flam and floy-floy. Any ideas?
A quick look at the OED revealed this:
[Origin unascertained.]
A. n. A kind of erotic dance. B. attrib. and Comb.; also as adj., indecent, ‘suggestive’.
[1890 B. HALL Turnover Club vii. 75, I have been told that one night ‘Hoochy-Coochy’ Rice, the minstrel man they always call Billy ‘Hoochy-Coochy’ because he invariably says that whenever he comes on stage entered [Charlie] Hoyt’s room..and stole a new song.]
The earliest reference for “hootch” was 1897, so it looks like the terms evolved separately.