Grand Ronde spellings and others for CJ

[R K Henderson]

Never knew Seattle cabbies used Alki as a radio signal. My grandfather
used it (without the heavily-anglicised modern pronunciation) as
"Goodbye," though as he once explained to me, it's much better than that.
He said, "It's like taking the other guy by the shoulders, pointing his
face toward the horizon, and leaving while he ponders it." Since Alki
really does refer to the future in that purely-conceptual Jargon way, my
grandfather seems to have nailed it.

I wonder if cabbies didn't pick up Alki as a sign-off first, then come to
use it to end any transmission.

Speaking of Seattle public transit linguistic archaeology, let us not
forget that: "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest." (My apologies if
I've remembered it wrong; my dad's the Seattleite.)

RK Henderson
Writer and Photographer

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