Comment on dimes and dozens in CJ literature research

[Nadja Adolf]

Check out Jack London's tales of the Gold Rush. There is a certain
amount
of CJ in them - and a lot of derogatory comments.

Interestingly enough, from my experiences I think the
word became derogatory as more whites moved in to the area. My family
were Washington Territorial pioneers, my one great-grandfather was a
Seneca Indian who came to Washington Territory circa 1880. He
was appalled at the treatment of the American Indians by the whites -
and he'd left the East Coast because he didn't much like how his
educated, affluent and cultured family was often treated there.

He soon found that much abuse came from the Chee Chako whites;
older, more settled whites had intermarried a bit and tended to be
more respectful.

My other great-grandmother told me her mother's disgust at how
new arrivals were trying to drive the Indians away from downtown
Seattle, where they had always sat on the corners and sold things
to the whites - as a child she used to play with kids who came with
their parents to her mother's store. The new arrivals pointed out
that such behavior wasn't seen in the "civilized" east and expressed
horror at the presence of Indians, and even worse, the idea of a little
white girl playing unsupervised with Indian boys and girls.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	David Robertson [SMTP:drobert at TINCAN.TINCAN.ORG]
> Sent:	Wednesday, January 27, 1999 1:17 AM
> To:	CHINOOK at LINGUIST.LDC.UPENN.EDU
> Subject:	Comment on dimes and dozens in CJ literature research
>
> LaXayEm, Klahowya, pi Tlahayam,
>
> The first thing I'm learning to ignore as I research Northwest
> literature
> for the history of Chinook Jargon usage is the ignorant use of
> "Siwash".
>
> I speak not of the term as a casual synonym for 'Indian' in the speech
> of
> British Columbia English speakers -- such usage would indicate a good
> knowledge of CJ.
>
> Instead I'm finding a frequent and derogatory use of "Siwash" in BC
> English, for about as long as there's been a white BC identity.
> Here's a
> sample of the dismissive sense of the word (from Well, Daniel.  "Camp
> fires gleaming."  New York:  Outing, 1911.):
>
> *page 57:  'The Siwash Indians that grow in this country are, of
> course,
> different from the Indians of the plains.  They are a fish-eating
> race,
> short, fat, and dumpy of stature.'
>
> *page 81:  '[Our guide, Clarke,] has a Siwash wife and speaks Siwash
> fluently.'
>
> *page 95:  'The word "Chang" is as near as the Siwash can come to
> "Chink"
> by which name all Chinamen go out here, and "Chang" he has become to
> us
> all.'  [This is news to linguists!  I've often heard of the difficulty
> Native peoples had with the "ng" sound of English.  "Ch", "i", "n" and
> "k", however, could be easily approximated by speakers of any
> Vancouver
> Island language.]
>
> *page 115:  'Arriving at Alberni again, I looked up my Siwash friend,
> Jimmy George.'
>
> *page 118:  'Of Siwash I understand practically none....' [I have no
> further questions, your honor.]
>
> It's been made clear to me previously that BC English contains the
> derogatory use of the CJ loanword 'Siwash', particularly in the
> pronunciation {sa*ywash}.
>
> But for goodness' sakes, it's disappointing to find a book documenting
> the
> usage of material from CJ, only to see that the author apparently knew
> nothing at all of Chinook Jargon.  He simply harps on this single
> word,
> showing no curiosity or understanding for the nonwhites surrounding
> him.
>
> The words of Lord Dufferin, quoted in Henry Solomon Wellcome's "The
> story
> of Metlakahtla" (London:  Saxon, 1887) -- "I have now seen them in all
> phases of their existence ... [even] to the shrewd horse-riding Siwash
> of
> the Thompson Valley" are the first example of this usage that I can
> think
> of right now.
>
> There are countless more, though.
>
> Aurel Krause's "Results of a trip to the Northwest coast of America
> and
> the Bering Straits" (Seattle:  University of Washington, 1956;
> translated
> from German by Erna Gunther) notes (circa 1883) that "The Americans
> who
> have wandered in call the Tlingit categorically, like all indigenous
> peoples, "natives" or "Indians" or also Siwashes with the addition of
> their place of origin as Sitka Indians or Sitka Siwashes."
>
> Also Norman Lee's "Klondike cattle drive" (Vancouver, BC:  Mitchell,
> 1960)
> shows just one CJ word, again "Siwashes", though at the location in
> question, 'halfway between Frazer Lake and Hazleton', perhaps there
> was
> less need to know the Jargon.
>
> At any rate, I will be sparing you folks the gory details of those
> sources
> I find to be lacking in CJ knowledge, particularly those who use the
> "Siwash" words only for insults.
>
> Have a good day.
> Dave
>
>
>
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