The word "Shit" in every language... [html]

[Mike Cleven]

One small correction (well, actually two):

Not

Chinook (Canada):  Cultus ikta

should be:

Chinook Jargon (Canada & the US):  Cultus ikta

or

Chinook Jargon (British Columbia & the US Pacific Northwest):  Cultus
ikta


NB there is a difference between the "Chinook Jargon" and "Chinook",
which can also mean the older Chinookan language upon which the Jargon
is partly based (and is in fact the proper meaning of "Chinook" although
that's in common use for the Chinook Jargon); the Chinook Jargon in a
creolized form is still spoken in the US, also, Chinuk-Wawa; they may
have a special idiom for "shit" also; this reply is bcc'd to the CHINOOK
list in case any Chinuk-Wawa speaker ther has something to add about
this.  "Cultus ikta" as "shit" is the most common rendering of that
phrase, but it can have a wide range of other meanings depending on
context (it literally means bad/worthless/ordinary object/thing".  As an
_exclamation_, however, rather than actual biologically-produced feces,
there are other expressions available,
e.g. "kweesh", "ad-de-dah", "an-nah"......; "cultus ikta" wouldn't
really function as an obscenity; you'd get a little more colourful than
that IMO......

--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (Bridge River Lillooet history)
http://www.hiyu.net (Chinook Jargon phrasebook/history)