It doesn't necessarily mean that this is it's original meaning. In
Mandarin Chinese, Chevrolet translates into "This you cannot repair".

Joseph Rosenblatt wrote:
>
> IIRC KEMOSABE was the name of a summer camp, with a phony "Indian" sounding
> name, somewhere in the Detroit area  that Fran Streicher's (sp?) children
> attended. (Fran Streicher being the author/producer of the Lone Ranger radio
> scripts. He later did another series about the Lone Rangers grandnephew the
> Green Hornet.) This is not to say that it may not really mean something in
> another language. As far a tonto meaning "soggy shrub" in Navajo all I can
> say is that the Tonto National Forest is most shrubs. I never tested them
> for sogginess but since much of the forest is in a flood plain it's likely
> that they are soggy sometimes.
>
> Joseph "why do I remember this stuff" Rosenblatt
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Glenn Cole
> Sent:   Monday, November 27, 2000 12:00 AM
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Subject:        [HP3000-L] OT: kemo sabe (was: Remember the 'Application Notes'?)
>
> I have no idea why this particular thread, from over TWO YEARS ago,
> stuck in my memory, but for the two who care, here's a follow-up.
>
> Back in May 1998, Wirt wrote:
>
> >Tim Ericson asks the probing question:
> >
> >> Thanks, Kemosabe!  (what *does* that mean, anyway?)
> >
> >It is a slangish transmogrification of the Spanish phrase, "¿Quien sabe?"
> (Who
> >knows?). The speaker of that phrase, the Long Ranger's faithful sidekick,
> was
> >Tonto, whose name is Spanish means idiot, fool, or stupid.
>
> In playing the original "You Don't Know Jack" game (apparently published
> jointly by Berkeley Systems and Jellyvision, Inc.) this evening, one
> question
> concerned the meaning of the designation "kemo sabe."
>
> The answer was:  it's a Navajo phrase, meaning "soggy shrub."
>
> FWIW.
>
> --Glenn