1900, WA: Political commentary (snark/pun) via Chinook Jargon
Just into the post-frontier period, one western Washington political candidate’s name made him a target.
This was Jeremiah Conaway of Ballard. Do you see it coming?
Perhaps no candidate on the county
ticket has been so prodigal of promises,
before and since the county convention.
as Jeremiah Conaway, of Ballard. The
actual number of deputyships in the aud-
itor’s office, if is said, were pledged in
Ballard to secure the support of that city
for the nomination. Later it was found
necessary to give out about twenty-five
places in Seattle and about twenty more
in the country precincts. The fulfilment
of his own promises and those made by
the county committee will give Mr. Cona-
way, in the remote event of his election,
an office force variously estimated at from
seventy-five to ninety able-bodied men.
In the Chinook jargon considerably more
than “Konaway” places have been given out.
— from “Gloom at Headquarters” in the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of October 25, 1900, page 8, column 3
The humor here comes from the man’s name sounding like the Jargon word for “all/every”. The joke was on him.
𛰅𛱁𛰃𛱂 𛰙𛱁𛱆𛰅𛱁 𛰃𛱄𛰙𛰃𛱄𛰙? qʰáta mayka tə́mtəm? kata maika tumtum? Qu’en penses-tu? What do you think?
And can you say it in Chinuk Wawa?
