Just When You Think You Are All Alone

[OntarioHunter]

I thought coolies were where the cattle fed. Or is that Coulee? Damn English language

No, no! Coulee Damn is the longest hydroelectric generating structure in the US.

You are correct. Coolie is cheap labour and coulee is a deep ravine or a lava flow. Geographers are confusing because they are confused. My late wife was a cartographer and would kick me for saying that.

Coolie is from the Hindi word kuli for day labourer. Coulee is a French Canadian word derived from the French proper word for flow. You can thank those Hudsons Bay fur trappers and stingy railroad builders for saddling us with this confusion of articulation. Fortunately, things are less confused now that we have other replacement definitions for cheap labour (i.e. wetback and minimum wage).

 

[ignorethefringes]

No, no! Coulee Damn is the longest hydroelectric generating structure in the US.

You are correct. Coolie is cheap labour and coulee is a deep ravine or a lava flow. Geographers are confusing because they are confused. My late wife was a cartographer and would kick me for saying that.

Coolie is from the Hindi word kuli for day labourer. Coulee is a French Canadian word derived from the French proper word for flow. You can thank those Hudsons Bay fur trappers and stingy railroad builders for saddling us with this confusion of articulation. Fortunately, things are less confused now that we have other replacement definitions for cheap labour (i.e. wetback and minimum wage).

As a man married to a Hispanic woman (who is a US born citizen) , let me clarify for you that the term "wetback" is NOT a term for cheap labor. It's a racial slur for immigrants at the southern border. I'd recommend not using it anymore.

 

[OntarioHunter]

As a man married to a Hispanic woman (who is a US born citizen) , let me clarify for you that the term "wetback" is NOT a term for cheap labor. It's a racial slur for immigrants at the southern border. I'd recommend not using it anymore.

I should have added some kind of emoji. Perhaps one with a frowning face holding its nose. I thought it was clear enough that "coolee" was a similar racist derogatory term in the historical context. No offense intended.

 

[CUElk]

As a man married to a Hispanic woman (who is a US born citizen) , let me clarify for you that the term "wetback" is NOT a term for cheap labor. It's a racial slur for immigrants at the southern border. I'd recommend not using it anymore.

My wife is also Hispanic. Thank you for saying that.

 

[turbobrick]

I think you're referring to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. It also originated in China: coolies brought to the Western Front to dig trenches.

Its pretty clear that the 1918 Influenza originated in the US amongst troops, spreading quickly with them as the mobilized for WWI.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Its pretty clear that the 1918 Influenza originated in the US amongst troops, spreading quickly with them as the mobilized for WWI.

Thanks for that. Several theories as to origin were put forward then and later. It was difficult to ascertain exactly, especially at that time as censors in Europe and America initially concealed the outbreak because governments on both sides were already battling sagging public morale over the huge waste of life in the trenches of Western Front (Russia was out of the War in 1917). Americans were also very much divided about entering the war. Concealing the facts became crucial to the war effort. Had both sides been aware of the severity of the pandemic, it may have actually expedited the end of the war. Officially, Camp Funston at Fort Riley now gets the nod as the original infection site but, like COVID, there is anecdotal evidence that it was around earlier in other locations.

 

[shrapnel]

 

[Mica Man]

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Amazing how quick it happens...

 

[OntarioHunter]

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Amazing considering it wasn't going anywhere at the time.