Choad/Chode--origin?

[Jonathon Green]

1.Navajo.

If only I could recall my source. But I can't, and it would appear that I
may have been misled, and that the best course is the mark chode/choad 'ety.
unknown'. So be it.

2. Partridge and banchut

Partridge cites the term as 'early C20', which he defines as 1900-30. He
quotes Orwell in _Down and Out in Paris and London_ as his single source
(other of course than Hobson-Jobson, pub. 1886). Orwell was a veteran of the
colonial East (Burma). I am happy to accept that such veterans would
certainly have known the word, and indeed occasionally used banchut 'back
home', but as Partridge's dating seems to indicate, not for very long.
Orwell, other than a small list of tramping slang, also in _Down and Out . .
._ did not claim to be a slang expert, and while he may have encountered the
term, I would still maintain that it was restricted to ex-pats. I have two
post Hobson Jobson cites: one from 1905, and one 1940, both in 'Raj'
contexts. This is not in any way to say that others do not exist, but I
remain unconvinced that the word is linked to chode/choad.

Jonathon Green