1918, Kennewick, WA: Kultus German
We’ve found a remarkable number of German people associated with Chinook Jargon, but today’s clipping uses Jargon against those folks…
Image credit: Netzverb Dictionary
During World War 1, an eastern Washington newspaper threw in this filler to whip up local sentiment against the enemy.
It’s a clunky joke. Kultus = kʰə́ltəs = ‘no-good’. There was already a regional tradition of jokes on this word, none of them stellar 😒
BY a very simple rule that much vaunted phrase “German Kul-
tur” can be very effectively translated into good old western
American. Change the final consonant to “s,” transpose the words
and the translation is complete, “Kultus German.”
— from the Kennewick (WA) Courier-Reporter of April 11, 1918, page 2, column 2
