Before the end of the frontier era, an Oregon newspaper viciously skewered its enemies wherever they might be.

A big goal in my examination of the “didactic dialogues” that some Chinuk Wawa (Chinook Jargon) dictionaries used to present is this: to help you see which ones are the most useful.

There are plenty of hints in today’s featured frontier-era newspaper article that Chinook Jargon was being used a lot in Southeast Alaska.

It was 16 years into the post-frontier era. Did the local newspaper translate the Chinook Jargon it was quoting?

Another in our ongoing collection of Canadian/Métis French words that show up in a very interesting geographical pattern: they’re loaned into the Indigenous languages of the Interior Pacific Northwest!

This vintage baseball item fits in our “Chinook Jargon-related doggerel” file; look for the Wawa component!

We can understand the un-translated Chinook here…

Another of the US presidents who was exposed to Chinuk Wawa was William Taft:

Now for the third of 3 segments from Kamloops Wawa #84 (June 25, 1893), pages 104. 

Shortly into the post-frontier era, there’s still an excellent use for Chinuk Wawa in the south Puget Sound area.