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!