Pretty sure they didn’t “count coup.”
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OK. You hearda scalpin, right? Well, maybe not in CA, all the injuns were cleared out for y’all by then. Injun raids = couping [’cutting’, in French] the skin that holds the hair onto the skull. At the raid’s end, the warrior who produced - like bass tournamenters at a weigh-in - not only the *most*, but the best *quality* scalps got first pick of the raid’s loot: women, guns, whiskey, tupperware, shampoo etc.
They had to COUNT/assess their coup (scalp cuts) to divvy up the dough. On a merit basis. Style points included.
Claro-er?
The injuns did they scalpin and whatnot, but they most likely didn't call it COUP or COUNTING COUP. Those are French words. So all this white man yammerin' about "counting coup" being a noun or verb is forked tongue white eye lies.
I bet the injuns didn't even have nouns OR verbs neither.
Savvy, kemosabe?
Bagster