1918, AK: Humor about Chinuk Wawa
Enough readers of this post-frontier era Alaskan newspaper understood Chinook to make it worth publishing the following joke.
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1869, WA: “Paddle Your Own Canoe” doggerel
I’m convinced Washington Territory was the world’s capital of Chinook Jargon-related doggerel poetry!
Another Oregon coast folk etymology? Siuslaw and ‘far away’
Honestly, you can add this one to the pile of things I thought I’d already written up.
1858: More “broken China” with “whooping Chenook”
Here’s another neat demonstration of how two pidgins, Chinuk Wawa and Chinese Pidgin English, coexisted in the far west of North America.
Didactic dialogues in CW dictionaries, Part 8A (Prosch’s 1912 ms. dictionary)
Dleit naika wawa masi kopa Alik Kod, yaka wawa kopa okok kopa naika web-sait.
1779, Nootka (BC) et al.: Riobó confirms no Chinook Jargon yet
“Relación del viage que hizo el P.P. Fr. Juan Riobó” is yet another firsthand source — this one unpublished — about the earliest contacts that happened between Indigenous people and Newcomers.
Chinook Jargon in the news: 1889 Washington’s Magazine
“A Fight for Federal Recognition” by Daniel O’Neil is in the April/May 2025 issue of 1889 Washington’s Magazine. Great in-depth reporting and ample, thoughtfully chosen photos make this a fine read. I like… Continue reading
Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws, and Ɬatwa Ina
I don’t appear to have mentioned these Chinuk Wawa names from Oregon State University:
The word for ‘Russian’, actually for ‘Unangax̂'(?), in Chinook Jargon
Predictably, the word for ‘Russian’ in Chinook Jargon came from English, but there’s much more to the story, including a new discovery.
Chinook Jargon in the news! Seattle Met magazine
“Seattle’s Historic Chinook Jargon is Having a Moment“, by Bess Lovejoy, is a well-reported article in Seattle Met magazine, dated April 21, 2025. Excellent photo illustrations and interviews with a number of the right people… Continue reading