Word Confusion: Coolie vs Coulee vs Coulis

Posted September 2, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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Coolie vs coulee vs coulis is a trio of heterographs (a subset of homophone).

But sounding alike is the only thing these three words have in common.

A coolie is a person working at the lowest social level.

A coulee is a plain or valley between high hills or mountains formed by running water sometime in the past. It’s sometimes dry and sometimes lush.

A coulis is a very edible and usually sweet sauce that is poured over food.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Coolie	Coulee	Coulis
Railway Station Coolie by Pulkit Lalwani is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Northeast Coulee Oak Woodland by Joshua Mayer is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Blackcurrant Mousse Sponge Cake Served with Red Fruit Coulis, Trimingham, Norfolk, United Kingdom, 22 Dec 2019 is Kolforn‘s own work and under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Noun Plural: coolies Alternative spellings: cooli, cooly, koelie, kuli, quli	Noun Plural: coulees Alternative spelling: coulée	Noun Plural: coulis
Adjective: [Informal] Characteristic of or suitable for a coolie Noun: [Dated; offensive] An unskilled native laborer in India, China, and some other Asian countries An unskilled laborer employed cheaply, especially one brought from Asia A contemptuous term used to refer to an Asian, especially an Indian living in South Africa	[Chiefly Western U.S. and Western Canada] A deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water A small valley A low-lying area A small intermittent stream [Geology] A stream of lava	A thin fruit or vegetable purée, used as a sauce
Examples:
Adjective: I’m working for coolie wages! The British were the first to experiment with coolie labor. Noun: In modern Indian popular culture, coolies have often been portrayed as working-class heroes or anti-heroes” (Coolie). When slavery was abolished, many countries imported coolies as a cheap labor force. Coolie labor, unlike slavery, was under contract, consensual, paid, and temporary,	It has rolling hills, valleys, ravines and coulees, ideal for stalking. They settled in coulees and river valleys where permanent water and wild hay grew and could sustain them year-round. In Wisconsin, coulees are the product of nearly a half million years of erosion, unmodified by glaciation. Once in the bog at the bottom of the coulee, one can see that the high grass is covered with grey silt. The remaining magma as lava domes and coulees was extruded with some associated subplinian or vulcanian explosive activity. The late-stage lava coulees and domes are most evolved.	Spoon a little more cranberry coulis over the oranges. For the berry coulis: Purée the fruit with the sorbet syrup, strain, and chill. Spoon some muscatel sauce and passion fruit coulis around the dish and garnish with sweet potatoes and parsley. Spoon a portion of the orange passion fruit coulis around the cheesecake. As an extra, you could pile in a bundle of mint, blitz it with whatever fruit you are making the coulis out of, then pass it through a sieve.
History of the Word:
Mid-17th century, from the Hindi and the Telugu kūlī meaning day laborer, is probably associated with the Urdu ḳulī meaning slave.	Early 19th century from the French coulée meaning lava flow, from couler meaning to flow, from the Latin colare meaning to strain or flow, from colum meaning strainer.	French, literally purée.

Coolie

Coulee

Coulis

Man in a red shirt over a white one and a yellow turban stands next to a blue-and-white train car

Railway Station Coolie by Pulkit Lalwani is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

A deep green ravine formed by glaciation

Northeast Coulee Oak Woodland by Joshua Mayer is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

A blackcurrant mousse sponge cake served with red fruit coulis, prepared in a kitchen in the village of Trimingham, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Blackcurrant Mousse Sponge Cake Served with Red Fruit Coulis, Trimingham, Norfolk, United Kingdom, 22 Dec 2019 is Kolforn‘s own work and under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of Grammar:

Adjective; Noun

Plural: coolies

Alternative spellings: cooli, cooly, koelie, kuli, quli

Noun

Plural: coulees

Alternative spelling: coulée

Noun

Plural: coulis

Adjective:
[Informal] Characteristic of or suitable for a coolie

Noun:
[Dated; offensive] An unskilled native laborer in India, China, and some other Asian countries

An unskilled laborer employed cheaply, especially one brought from Asia
A contemptuous term used to refer to an Asian, especially an Indian living in South Africa

[Chiefly Western U.S. and Western Canada] A deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water

A small valley

A low-lying area

A small intermittent stream

[Geology] A stream of lava

A thin fruit or vegetable purée, used as a sauce

Examples:

Adjective:
I’m working for coolie wages!

The British were the first to experiment with coolie labor.

Noun:
In modern Indian popular culture, coolies have often been portrayed as working-class heroes or anti-heroes” (Coolie).

When slavery was abolished, many countries imported coolies as a cheap labor force.

Coolie labor, unlike slavery, was under contract, consensual, paid, and temporary,

It has rolling hills, valleys, ravines and coulees, ideal for stalking.

They settled in coulees and river valleys where permanent water and wild hay grew and could sustain them year-round.

In Wisconsin, coulees are the product of nearly a half million years of erosion, unmodified by glaciation.

Once in the bog at the bottom of the coulee, one can see that the high grass is covered with grey silt.

The remaining magma as lava domes and coulees was extruded with some associated subplinian or vulcanian explosive activity.

The late-stage lava coulees and domes are most evolved.

Spoon a little more cranberry coulis over the oranges.

For the berry coulis: Purée the fruit with the sorbet syrup, strain, and chill.

Spoon some muscatel sauce and passion fruit coulis around the dish and garnish with sweet potatoes and parsley.

Spoon a portion of the orange passion fruit coulis around the cheesecake.

As an extra, you could pile in a bundle of mint, blitz it with whatever fruit you are making the coulis out of, then pass it through a sieve.

History of the Word:

Mid-17th century, from the Hindi and the Telugu kūlī meaning day laborer, is probably associated with the Urdu ḳulī meaning slave.

Early 19th century from the French coulée meaning lava flow, from couler meaning to flow, from the Latin colare meaning to strain or flow, from colum meaning strainer.

French, literally purée.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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