Category Archive: Chinook Jargon

Gold, Gold, in Cariboo!

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I came across a pretty interesting book, “Gold, Gold, in Cariboo: A Story of Adventure in British Columbia”, that has Chinook Jargon as well as dramatic features that make it worth a read.… Continue reading →

Our first night in this locality of foreign jargon

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I know that I have Emily Carr fans among my readers. Can any of you connect this painting of hers, “Our First Night in This Locality of Foreign Jargon”, with a particular event… Continue reading →

Chinook Wawa in the language cloud

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“Chinook Wawa in the language cloud“: EGADS, what does that mean? Focus on the red dot.  Now, slowly cross your eyes.  JK! In seriousness, I’m presuming the good folks over at Ethnologue will… Continue reading →

Brought to you by the letter O (in shorthand)

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(Update 05/07/2013:  See below for edits showing my interpretation of the CJ here. — Dave) The first issue of the legendary Chinook Jargon missionary newspaper Kamloops Wawa has been shown in a lot of articles… Continue reading →

Talk strange language

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The Jargon was being reminisced about already in 1904! The Morning Oregonian (Portland, Or.), Thursday, June 21, 1904, page 12, columns 3-4 has this report of a typical pioneers’ get-together of the time, at… Continue reading →

Mystery photo

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(See the answer in the update line below! — Dave) Here’s a test of your Chinook Jargon-related geographic knowledge: Can you identify this place? Thanks to the kind reader who submitted this via… Continue reading →

Dictionary of American Regional English and “Chinook”

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The legendary Dictionary of American Regional English, which you ought to go look at in a library if you can’t afford it, also has online pages that are mighty interesting. I found one… Continue reading →

“Potlatch” #99 with a bullet!

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Probably one of the most visible pop-culture uses of the Chinook Jargon word “Potlatch” was this #99 hit by the Native American band Redbone: (Their drummer was from Neah Bay.) It wasn’t as… Continue reading →

“Kanaka(s)” in old newspapers

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It’s often been noted with interest that Chinook Jargon, and 19th-century English in the greater Northwest, both had a word specifically for Pacific Islanders: kanaka.  There were plenty of Islanders out here at the… Continue reading →

Who talks with whom? Or, there really is a Northwest speech community

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This is a typically fascinating question by Robert Krulwich at his blog: Who talks with whom? Go read it. It’s fascinating the data that support the observation that folks in a given region… Continue reading →