Sometimes a whole story springs from a single word. In Ruth Modrow’s typewritten 1971 dictionary of Quinault, a Salish language of southwestern Washington’s coast, an entry caught my eye as I was looking for… Continue reading
If you have heard of the Chinook Jargon trade language, a.k.a. Chinuk Wawa, you are doubtless aware of the outsized importance attaching to the Hudsons Bay Company in our Pacific Northwest history. One… Continue reading
Posted as an example of the antiquated slur “klootch“ (also spelled “klutch” or “klooch”). –from the Portland Morning Oregonian, April 23, 1904, page 5, column 5. Here it’s the name of a female puppy… Continue reading
KUOW in Seattle has just published online an investigative news story titled “When Was Chinook Jargon Prevalent In The Northwest?“ It’s a carefully done, quite listenable feature in their Local Wonder series. Nixwa… Continue reading
Strangest Places Dept.: I quote verbatim from San Francisco insurance-trade publication The Adjuster (volume 40, number 1; January 1910, page 14), adding [in brackets] my English translations. My comments follow afterward. Tilikums Ikt… Continue reading
[Not for the most sensitive ears.] If I had accesss to the Murray-Latta fonds at UBC Archives, the blueprints for the Iron Klooch would make a spectacular illustration here. That’s your basic Kellington… Continue reading
WW19CCTYTD? (What would a 19th-century celibate tell you to do?) “Mgr. Kneipp‘s Hygienic Instructions” ALTA KOPA KLUCHMIN, PUS WIK SAIA Now, for the lady, when it’s almost time IAKA TLAP IAKA TANAS. for… Continue reading
Ceci n’est pas un faux-fuyant 🙂 Alta polis man iskom iht dais [SIC!!!], ukuk Then the policeman picked up a dice, (one of) those chikmin dais kluchmin lolo kopa iaka lima pus metal dice… Continue reading
{Edited to specify: it’s not the medicine man who’s doing the arguing here, it’s someone who supports him.} When you grasp how, in Kamloops Wawa, liplit “the priest” mentioned in the third person is the same… Continue reading
We haven’t given Robert Brown (b. 1842) his due. I mean, he was a well-regarded Scottish botanist and explorer of our Pacific Northwest region, and certainly I’ve already praised his Chinook highly, but… Continue reading
