1906: BC CPE and Jargon mixes
Here are a couple more finds from our friend Alex Code.
Image credit: New West Anchor
Both of these are from the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, and both report people talking a mix of (West Coast style) Chinese Pidgin English with Chinuk Wawa.
First, from the Chapman-DeBeck wedding…
The afternoon train to the Junction was honored by bearing the bridal party to the main line, where they caught the train for Winnipeg. A large party of friends were at the station to see the bride and groom go their way rejoicing, and enough rice was scattered about the platform to feed a small family for a week. The worthy Oriental who was called upon to sweep the debris away was heard to murmur: “Dem peoples heap clazy; t’row away hiyu lice.”
— from the New Westminster (BC) Daily News of November 8, 1906, page 8, column 3
And from the local Chinatown:
Yip Sing, a well known resident of Chinatown, left yesterday for Montreal via the C.P.R. Yip has a brother in Montreal who is making “hiyu money in heap big laundly,” and Yip has a chance to ring in on the deal.
— from the same paper of November 23, 1906, page 8, column 2
