Ke-mo sah-bee

Fran Striker, writer of the original Lone Ranger radio program, spelled the word "ke-mo sah-bee".

Jim Jewell, director of The Lone Ranger from 1933 to 1939, took the phrase from Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee, a boys' camp on Mullett Lake in Michigan, established by Charles W. Yeager (Jewell's father-in-law) in 1916.[3] Yeager himself probably took the term from Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, who had given the meaning "scout runner" to Kee-mo-sah'-bee in his 1912 book "The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore".[4]

Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee was in an area inhabited by the Ottawa, who speak a language which is mutually comprehensible with Ojibwe. John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm's A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe defines the Ojibwe word giimoozaabi as "he peeks" (and, in theory, "he who peeks"), making use of the prefix giimoo(j)-, "secretly"; Rob Malouf, now an associate professor of linguistics at San Diego State University, suggested that "giimoozaabi" may indeed have also meant scout (i.e., "one who sneaks").[5]

There have been jokes about the name "kemo sabe". A Far Side cartoon had the then long-retired Lone Ranger discover that the name meant the rear end of a horse. Homer and Jethro's parody of the Stonewall Jackson song "Waterloo" had the following verse: "The Lone Ranger and Tonto rode the trail / catching outlaws and putting them in jail/ But the Ranger shot old Tonto 'cause it seems / he found out what Kemo Sabe means/ (Waterloo refrain follows) The Lone Ranger he did trust / That old Tonto bit the dust."

• In the old Lone Ranger TV series, the Ranger's faithful friend and partner Tonto, played by First Nations actor Jay Silverheels for the entire run of the series, was asked in many scenes what "Kemosabe" meant. His reply was invariably, "It mean Trusty Scout!". The made-for-TV movie Enter the Lone Ranger (1949) combined the plots of the first three episodes of the Lone Ranger TV series: "Enter the Lone Ranger", "The Lone Ranger Fights On", and "The Lone Ranger Triumphs" into a complete story.
• In both, Tonto finds the forever nameless younger brother of a famous Texas Ranger "Capt. Reid" barely alive. A medallion around the young man's neck helps identify him as the same boy who'd saved Tonto after a renegade attack had wiped out his own family some years earlier. Tonto declares the young man, played by Clayton Moore, worthy of brotherhood and, after a "traditional" blood-sharing ceremony gives him the name "Kemosabe" or "Trusty Scout".

• In the TV series Renegade (1993-1998) starring Lorenzo Lamas as "Reno Raines" an ex-cop becoming an outlaw and starring Branscombe Richmond as "Bobby Sixkiller" a Native American bounty hunter, eventually they join forces in partnership doing business together as bounty hunters. In season 1 episode 11 titled "Lyon's Roar" they disagree about their next target and Sixkiller asks Raines "Are you crazy, kemosabe?".

• In the TV series The Sopranos, the "Kemosabe" is referred to in Season 1, Episode 2, Interestingly enough, it was also referred to on Mindhunter, Season 1, Episode 2.
• Khemosabi (1967–2001), a champion Arabian horse. His owners popularized his show career with a series of Lone Ranger themed cartoons.
• Kimosabe, a 1999 album by Kim Mitchell.
• Kemosabe Records, American record label created in 2011 and owned by Sony.
• Kemosabe, a 2013 song by the British indie pop band Everything Everything.
• Featured in lyrics of "Apache (Jump On It)," a 1981 song by The Sugarhill Gang [6] which is itself based on the 1960 instrumental Apache.
• Keem-O-Sabe, a 1969 instrumental by The Electric Indian.
• Featured in the lyrics of the 1960 song Mr. Custer performed by Larry Verne.
• Referenced in the lyrics of "If I Had a Boat," a song by Lyle Lovett from his second album, Pontiac (album).
• Featured in the SNL digital short “Laser Cats” (ep. 1-7) as a nickname used by Admiral Spaceship and Nitro (eventually promoted to General Nitro).

• Jay Silverheels biography: TONTO: The Man in Front of the Mask