ohpitôskwanêyik!
ᐅᐦᐱᑑᐢᑿᓀᔨᐠ!
“Elbows Up!”
The subtlety of Cree forms is always a little amazing. So is the almost-coded response, “Elbows up!” as a response to blatant threats to Canadian sovereignty. The phrase is being popularized by comedian Mike Myers, channelling hockey great Gordie Howe.
In this case, Arok Wolvengrey (with the guidance, no doubt, of master speaker Jean Okimāsis) has captured layers of Cree grammatical detail as he provides us this phrase to use in Cree. He says it’s more like “get your elbows up” (as needed, rather than all the time). Very subtle. Very Canadian.
ohpitôskwanê- “have one’s elbows up”
ohpitôskwanêyi- “move one’s elbows up”
the extra -yi suffix here adds movement to an otherwise static situation.
the -k is the imperative plural.
ohp- “up, upward, in a raised position”
-tôskwan- “elbow”
-ê “VAI (pre-)final”
-yi “VAI final; expressing movement”
-k “2p Imperative; ye, you all”
