1882, BC: “Chinooke Clahowyah Queen’s Tenass” to the Viceroy
It’s not great Chinook Jargon, but it’s Chinook Jargon in public.
Monthly Archive: February, 2025
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1923, WA: Still another McCluskey – Eldridge letter in Jargon!
We’ve found a number of letters written between Mr McCluskey and Mr Eldridge; it’s wonderful to discover yet another of their Northern Dialect gems…
Culture lessons: Things Chinook Jargon doesn’t do…asking ‘WHAT to do’, ‘WHAT to say’, etc.
It’s extremely well documented in the Northern Dialect that we don’t usually ask ‘What should I do?’ etc.
1884, OR: We just keep finding Lord’s Prayer translations; here’s a home-brewed one
We’ve found many Jargon translations of the Christian “Lord’s Prayer”; here’s one that was obviously cooked up at home.
1917, WA: Julia Pilchuck coins a word for a ‘truck’
There wasn’t yet a standard word for ‘trucks’ in English, yet, either, as you’ll see!
1895, WA: David Denny’s Chinook canoe stolen (more Lushootseed / Chinook Jargon)
I haven’t yet tracked down what word of Lushootseed original Seattle settler of 1851 David Denny — you know, Louisa Boren’s hubby — was using as the name of his “Chinook canoe”…
Chinook Writing: “Ces pattes de mouche”!
I was reading archival documents the other day and found a delightful description of the Chinook shorthand writing.
1909, WA: “Taxes paid by prophetess”
Another portrayal of Native people as weather forecasters.
What does a really fluent “Lord’s Prayer” translation really say?
Today I’m simply showing you an accurate back-translation from Chinook Jargon to English.
Sentence of the day: Tying someone up = arresting them
I have pointed out that the colonizer custom of clapping cuffs on a culprit — arresting someone — is ‘tying’ them up, in many Indigenous languages, including Chinook Jargon.