Digital BW, The Print

Jerry,

That detailed answer wasn't mine, it came from Tim Atherton, as noted below.
My comment was about "back end of horse", which is from a Gary Larson
comic...which, I thought, was quite funny ;-)

Regards,

Austin


>
> Austin, You are amazing. a detailed answer for everything.
> I asked our barber who is mexican what it meant, and he said colloquial
> for "who knows"?  I'm Norwegian, so what do I know?
>
> It may be a local dialect. "who knows" wouldn't make a lot of sense...
>
> Now for the big question. What, EXACTLY does Speedy Gonzales mean when
> he says ARRrrriba! Ondale !??
>
> Jerry
>
> Tim Atherton wrote:
> >
> > Now - even more OT than how big the font size is.... :-)
> >
> > > No, it's Who Knows? in Spanish.
> > >
> > > Jerry
> > >
> > > Austin Franklin wrote:
> > > >>...Kemo Sab\ufffd...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Hey, doesn't that mean "back end of horse" in Apache?
> >
> > The origin and meaning of the words "kemo sabe", often heard in in Lone
> > Ranger stories, are often debated. The first use of the words
> > apparently occurred in an episode in which Tonto is helping a severely
> > wounded Texas Ranger recover from injuries inflicted by The Cavendish
> > Gang. Tonto and the Ranger recognize each other as childhood friends,
> > when they called each other "kemo sabe" (faithful friend).
> > Fran Striker (senior) was a well-renowned writer of several OTR
> > favorites, including The Lone Ranger, Covered Wagon Days, The Green
> > Hornet, and Ned Jordan, Secret Agent. His son, Fran Striker, Jr.
> > relates the story of the origin of the words "kemo sabe".
> >
> > Now,  About Kemo Sabay (Sabe)-- (It was first introduced as \ufffdsabay,\ufffd
> > but soon became \ufffdsabe.\ufffd)    WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN?
> >
> > It is a most interesting question... one that has been pondered and
> > investigated frequently throughout the decades.  In the past there
> > have been scholars who have conducted extensive research and studies
> > on the phrase... trying to develop the premise that in Kemo Sabay (as
> > with the name Tonto) there was a subtle discriminatory nuance
> > intended.  Logic usually seemed to dictate that those researchers look
> > the dialects native to the southwest for support.
> >
> > The investigator, student or scholar, must realize that when this land
> > was discovered there were already some 220 mutually unintelligible
> > languages native the America north of the Rio Grande alone.  While it
> > may be logical to make geographical associations with the southwest
> > and the Spanish language, then put forth suppositions -- when dealing
> > in non-scientific areas (such as the creation of fiction) logic can be
> > quite misleading and the conclusions drawn quite incorrect.
> >
> > In addition to writing the scripts, books, cartoon strips, and
> > personal appearance scenarios; my father was also charged with
> > answering fan letters to the Lone Ranger.  He always started his
> > replies with... "Ta-i ke-mo sah-bee (Greetings trusty scout)"  AND
> > this was Dad's only intended meaning of the term.   But still, there
> > have been many interesting, but incorrect, conclusions drawn (with no
> > negative implications intended) about the derivation of the phrase.
> >
> > Many years ago, a Dr. Goddard, of the Smithsonian Institution, was
> > reported as believing that Kemo Sabe was from the Tewa dialect.  He
> > supported his contention by calling on the "Ethnogeography of the Tewa
> > Indians" which appeared in the 29th Annual Report of the Bureau of
> > American Ethnology (1916).  It seems that in Tewa, "Apache" equates to
> > Sabe and "friend" to Kema.
> >
> > A scholar from the University of California at Berkley hypothesized
> > that Kemo Sabe came from the Yavapai, a dialect spoken in Arizona.  He
> > suggested that my Dad could have asked a source in Arizonia for the
> > Indian term for "one who is white," or shown a picture of the Ranger
> > (in the white shirt and trousers he wore in the earliest publicity
> > photos) and asked for a descriptive name. A Yavapai would respond
> > (correctly) kinmasaba or kinmasabeh.
> >
> > So what's the truth?  One must look at practicality rather than logic.
> > An article in an old Saturday Evening Post magazine claims that Tonto
> > was supposed to be a Potawatomi Indian, from the great lakes area.
> > (Now that's practical... at the time Dad had never been west of
> > Buffalo, New York and the program was launched from WXYZ in Detroit,
> > Michigan.)  In research for my book, I came across another old
> > reference-- a photograph of a children's camp in the northern part of
> > Michigan.  The photo was from the early 1930s and showed the camp
> > entrance.  It was named camp "Ke Mo Sah Bee."  The accompanying
> > caption pointed out that the name stood for "trusty friend" or "trusty
> > scout."  These two tidbits from history dovetail nicely and are in
> > keeping with the meaning of the term as officially stated for the last
> > sixty some years.
> >
> > It has been written that Jim Jewell, the radio programs dramatic
> > director in the early years and a native of Michigan, originally
> > suggested the phrase to my dad.  In light of everything else, I find
> > that to be a credible claim.
> >
> > Most recently, I became aware of yet another (humorous) meaning of the
> > phrase.  In his book of humor and observation, noted columnist James
> > Smart observes that the New York Public Library defines Kemo Sabe as
> > Soggy Shrub. His entertaining collection is appropriately titled
> > "Soggy Shrub Rides Again and other improbabilities."
> >
> > Allow me just one final note on Kemo Sabe... an interesting side
> > light.  It is usually assumed that Kemo Sabe is how the Ranger refers
> > to Tonto. However, in many of the early radio broadcasts, the Ranger
> > calls Tonto Kemo Sabe AND Tonto also calls the Ranger Kemo Sabe.
> >