NW Coast ‘cat’ discoveries: English and ¡Spanish! loans
Languages of the northern Pacific Northwest coast have an odd form of word for ‘cat’, in all 3 unrelated language families:
Languages of the northern Pacific Northwest coast have an odd form of word for ‘cat’, in all 3 unrelated language families:
In BC, Chinook Jargon stayed in use more vigorously and longer than it did south of the border.
My thanks go to reader Darrin Brager for inspiring this post.
As a seasonal bonus for you folks, here’s a look back at the Chinook Jargon of Christmas past!
Here’s another fun Christmas-related bit of Chinuk Wawa, courtesy of reader Darrin Brager!
“It is Christmas Day on the cattle ranch at the Malheur agency…” So starts Part IV of a serially published piece of post-frontier cowboy fiction by the renowned Owen Wister.
Wikipedia tells us “Andy Paull, (Andrew Paull, Xwechtáal, Xwupúkinem, Quitchtaal) (February 6, 1892 – July 28, 1959) was a Squamish leader, activist, coach, and lawyer.”
North Yakima, Washington, was a feisty boomtown in its day, and it had an aptly-titled newspaper to go with that attitude.
Who are the “Hallo Indians”?
A humorous experience at the newspaper offices, caused by someone’s insufficient knowledge of Chinuk Wawa!