The Chahko Mika handshake: firm, or difficult?
As you read the following wonderful clipping, think of this: is the “Chahko Mika handshake” a firm one, or a complicated one?
Haiyoo masi kopa naika reader, Darrin Brager, who sent this neat, if cryptic, find our way:
Since they started killing at the new slaughter house a great many travelers have ventured into the old historic burg — Jack Tunner with his Chahko Mika handshake, “Hyas Kull spose mamook.” … — Cap Carruthers, one of the princes of the road. Hyas Closhe.
— from “Elko Notes” in the Nelson (BC) Daily News of July 4, 1914, page 2, column 3
Cap Carruthers was a traveling sales representative.
Oh, by the way, Chahko Mika (‘Come here, you!’) was the then-new civic celebration / carnival in Nelson, BC.
Hyas Kull spose mamook = hayas-q’ə́l spus mámuk (Ø) = ‘very hard to do (it)’, in northern Chinook Jargon.
Hyas Closhe = hayas-ɬúsh = ‘very good’.
