Losing ‘sleep’ up north
In British Columbia, the old word < moosum > (músum) ‘sleep’ fell into disfavor because of its longstanding naughty overtones…
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Getting drunk with the Canucks etc.
pʰáɬlam (< patlum > in BC spelling) is a famous old Chinuk Wawa expression…
Cheechako entered English via the Klondike
Other Chinuk Wawa words entered English earlier, usually in Oregon and Washington, but “cheechako” can technically be called a Canadianism…
Patl kopa is bad, mamuk patl kopa is good
“Full of”, in Chinuk Wawa, is just plain “full”.
1905: “Silver chickimun” in Alaska
When I checked whether an 1897 German book’s “chicamin silver” was real Alaska Jargon, I got excited for a second by the article under a racist headline… Cannery, Haines, AK (image credit: Haines Sheldon… Continue reading
BC craziness
Come on down to Crazy Dave’s for all the best deals on Chinook lessons!
My CW vacation photos, part 3
There’s a nice collection of “8 authentic Native American dugout canoes” on display in front of the Island County Historical Museum, in Coupeville, Washington. I noticed some of them have Indigenous names painted… Continue reading
1872 fictional Montana CW from Grand Ronde (!) : “A Gold-Hunt on the Yellowstone”
I always incline to get excited when a possible find of Chinuk Wawa in Montana pops up…
Early creole kapshwála(-), later creole ípsət(-), and CW grammar change
A quite early metaphor in lower Columbia River creolized Chinuk Wawa seems to have been replaced by Grand Ronde creole speakers…
“Auf nach Alaska” part 2: translation
Thanks to Norbert Franz for transcribing, translating, and commenting on the 1897 German description of Chinuk Wawa that I recently showed here!