Tag Archive: pidgin english

“Fish house” in Heiltsuk tells us how they talked about canneries in Chinook

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In the Practical Heiltsuk-English Dictionary by John Rath, there’s this word: bisaús for a cannery.  There have certainly been canneries in that area (Bella Bella, BC). But I have some acquaintance with the… Continue reading →

Caroline Leighton, Life at Puget Sound

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“Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon, and California, 1865-1881″ Boston: Lee and Shepard / New York: Charles T. Dillingham, 1884 The title and subtitle tell you… Continue reading →

Opening the remaining half of the Colville Reservation to settlement, 1906

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The context of the book I’m blogging about today is that in 1906 there was a plan to throw open the remaining, southern, half of the Colville Indian Reservation in north-central Washington state… Continue reading →

A history of central Washington that relies on, but ignores, a Salish chief

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This blog post is fondly dedicated to the memory of M. Dale Kinkade. Hull, Lindley M.  1929.  A history of central Washington: Including the famous Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan and the Columbia Valleys/ With… Continue reading →

Shit’s Chinook, chittim ain’t

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I keep noticing odd-smelling claims around the Internet that “chittim” is a word from Chinook Jargon.  I haven’t found proof.  I think it ain’t. Chittim (or chittem or chittam) is said to be… Continue reading →

Cruisings in the Cascades

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Looking through an antiquarian bookseller’s website, I spied a neat-sounding book that was new to me. They wanted a shocking price, but Google Books had it as a free ebook 🙂 Turns out… Continue reading →

From Copenhagen to Okanogan, part 4

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[Final installment.  See previous episodes for more info on this fascinating pioneer memoir…life in the Okanogan Highlands of Washington State, 1880s-1930s.  Most of what I’ve excerpted in this blog happened in the last… Continue reading →

Alfred Downing, “I Signal an Indian from Opposite Shore”

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The superbly readable naturalist-historian Jack Nisbet of Spokane has a column “Boundaries” in the free North Columbia Monthly, out of Colville.  Thanks to Jack for this find… His current (April 2012) column is… Continue reading →