Category Archive: Chinuk Wawa

Mukmuk the beaver

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A propos of nothing, here’s a 2010 Olympic mascot I wish I’d bought a t-shirt or toque of: Mukmuk the beaver. Sorry–after dropping this image into my post, I read that M. is… Continue reading →

Our English as she is spoke (or a column only Canadians will understand)

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By Dave Bidini in the National Post.  Give’r! But it sounds like he stopped right about the Alberta-BC border, eh?  😉 I’ve never heard BC folks call each other “Skookum”.  See my addendum below.… Continue reading →

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 →