More humor in Chinuk Wawa: Taking care of business
This one is a very small joke, just a play on words that I find to be a very nice use of fluent Chinuk Wawa.
(For plenty more Chinook Jargon humor, click here.)
Taii Silista pi iaka aw Shim Mishil
‘Chief Celestin [Chilihitzia of Spahomin/Douglas Lake/Quilchena] and his brother Jim Michel’chako kopa ukuk makuk haws, pi naika
‘came to that store, and I’wawa kopa Shim pus iaka chako kanamokst
‘asked Jim for him to come along’naika kopa naika tanas cikcik, pus
‘with me on my little wagon, for’iaka tlus nanich kopa kyutan pi naika tlus
‘him to take care of horses and me to take’nanich naika styuil: iaka wawa tlus kakwa.
‘care of my prayers: he said that would be fine.’
— Kamloops Wawa #199c, page 97 lower right corner
Bonus fact:
Both Chief Chilihitzia and Jimmy Michel were major users of Chinuk Pipa ‘Chinook Writing’.
Their “Nicola” region of British Columbia was the epicenter of that popular writing, which was intensely popular among these men’s Syilx (Okanagan) people and the closely neighbouring Nɬeʔképmx (Thompson) Salish.
Chilihitzia is a central character in the huge 1904 story of a trip to Europe.
