General Question

sferik's avatar

What are chachakos?

Asked by sferik (6121points) July 29th, 2009

In Sarah Palin’s farewell address she said: “In the winter time it’s the frozen road that is competing with the view of ice fogged frigid beauty, the cold though, doesn’t it split the chachakos from the sourdoughs?”

What the does this mean? What the heck are chachakos? Are they in any way related to chocotacos?

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24 Answers

andrew's avatar

She’s obviously referring to chocobos.

styfle's avatar

I believe she said: Cheechakos
It means Alaska and Northern Canada.

sferik's avatar

Okaaay…

Buy why does the cold make it separate from bread?

tiffyandthewall's avatar

i really don’t know, but welcome to fluther, seriously. i literally laughed out loud when i clicked on the chocotaco.

Sarcasm's avatar

Don’t bother trying to understand her.
It’s not worth the decrease in IQ you’ll get from it.

BUT! Do enjoy Shatner’s rendition of it.

styfle's avatar

@Sarcasm LOL at the comment and LOL at the name.

SnappySmurf's avatar

She clearly is referring to her message therapist, Gus Chachakos, Licensed Massage Therapist, LMT… you too can find him here.

La_chica_gomela's avatar

@andrew: I think that link just goes back to this same page?

SnappySmurf's avatar

@jonsblond… that picture is genius!

sferik's avatar

I’m enjoying all the fun and games but I still can’t make sense of her sentence.

Anybody?

tiffyandthewall's avatar

edit: i don’t know why i typed ‘welcome to fluther’, because i really intended to write ‘favourite question on fluther’. i think i got my questions crossed…oops.

La_chica_gomela's avatar

@tiffyandthewall: I was kind of wondering why you were welcoming someone with about the same amount of lurve as you, but I figured ‘whatever floats your boat’. lol.

jonsblond's avatar

@sferik I really wish I could help you. Can anyone really make sense of what Sarah Palin has to say? Maybe Alaska Tundrea knows?

Sarcasm's avatar

hmm, Palin is one of her fields of expertise. Wonder if she has a degree in Palintology.

Allie's avatar

Maybe “sourdoughs” is a term for those below the Canadian border? And in the winter, when it ices up there, umm.. we don’t ice… down here.

colin's avatar

@Allie That’s pretty clearly correct…she’s saying that you can tell an Alaskan from a mainlander (“sourdough”) by whether they can tolerate the cold.

elijah's avatar

maybe…
It makes me sad that people actually take this woman seriously

nebule's avatar

chocotacos look delicious!

aprilsimnel's avatar

Let’s get the right Palin in 2012!

niigerian's avatar

“Checakos & Sourdoughs”. I am not sure of the spelling but I do know what she meant having lived there my self 31/2 years. Checakos are new comers to alaska, or those who never really fit in and sourdoughs are the residents who have been living there awhile or those who really fit in well. I believe this all stems from the gold rush days.
There is an old saying up there that some people get off the boat a Sourdough, or an “ALASKAN”, and others can live their whole life in alaska and still be a Checakco.

.

AlaskaTundrea's avatar

niigerian is essentially right. When Palin used the term Cheechako, she meant someone who is someone who is new to Alaska. They’ve yet to prove that they have what it takes to live here successfully. Alaska is a vast land with many challenges and even today you will often find that Alaskans, tho’ a friendly bunch, in some of the more remote areas tend to hold off on totally embracing newcomers because there is a certain suspicion that those newcomers may not last past the first winter. Our cold certainly isn’t worse than in other places, so I disagree with Palin that this is the dividing line, but rather that it lasts longer and the winter days tend to be short with long hours of darkness. To become a Sourdough, you traditionally have to have lived here a winter and successfully faced the challenges of living as an Alaskan. I’m sure in the good ol’ days that this included things like staring down a bear or successfully feeding your family and keeping them warm in the wilderness, but the meaning has obviously softened as things have changed up here. But, in a weird way, I think the term was used to mean an “Alaska wannabe” as opposed to someone who has lived here and proven they’re “tough enough” to be called an Alaskan. What can I say, there is a certain ego to being Alaskan with all it conjures up, the tough survivor type who can face down a bear, field dress a moose, cut through ice to get to their water supply and mush dogs across the state, all of which very few Alaskans do or deal with but, hey, it gives us a certain “wow factor” while allowing us to live pretty much as you do in the “Lower 48” (Alaskan slang for non-Alaskans).

The_Compassionate_Heretic's avatar

@andrew Lurve for the final fantasy reference.

PainterBob's avatar

chachakos = new guy. like one might say green horn.

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