1910: “Kolaham Kloosh Tillicum Midlile”
My nerdy hobby: deciphering badly spelled Chinuk Wawa 😊
This specimen comes from the post-frontier Kootenays of southeastern British Columbia.
It’s spiced up by being giving a bogus translation by the reporter — who I think may have copied this Jargon down wrong!
“Kolaham Kloosh Tillicum Midlile”
was the startling device emblazoned on
a streamer that spanned Ward street
at the corner of Vernon last evening,
as the skirmish line of the Pacific In-
dians, the advance guand of the great
three day trap shoot next week in Nel-
son hove in sight. The words quoted
above are Kootenay for “The fatted
calf has been killed; the venison
smokes; go to it and make yourself
one of us,” or words to that effect.
— from “Advance Guard of the Trap Shooters”, in the Nelson (BC) Daily News of July 23, 1910, page 1, column 4
I suppose I personally would translate the banner’s “Kolaham Kloosh Tillicum Midlile” as ”Hello, good friends who are staying here”. (łax̣a(w)yam, łush tilixam miłayt.)
