Kwitshadie and other "aberrations"

[Nadja Adolf]

Contrary to Chris' opinion, and possibly that of
others, the issue isn't the people at GR who are
trying to desperately preserve their language and
culture.

The aggravation has come more from the linguistics
end. An example of the situation is the word
"kwitshadie." "Kwitshadie" is a word widely used in
parts of the Pacific Northwest; cowponies get named
"Kwitshadie." This word was not used at GR.

The fact that the word wasn't used at GR should be no
major issue; and people should know it wasn't used
there. But it isn't as much the information as the
manner in which it is given - informing people that
they need to say something different BECAUSE it wasn't
used at GR is much different than informing them
simply that at GR a different terminology was used.
The latter approach means that if someone is at GR
they should use the other terminology; the former
approach suggests that the use of the word is outside
some canon.

See the difference?

On a cheerier note, I remember a conversation I had
with my father maybe 15-20 years ago. We were reading
a book about Pacific Northwest shipwrecks, and it
included the rather funny story of a non-disaster
where a boiler went dry and didn't blow. The quote in
the book was on the lines of "Skookum kettling halo
chuck."
My father paused and wondered if the word meant was
actually "skukoom" not "skookum." The "kettling" in
question was the boiler of a ship - and he wondered if
the engineer of the boat had meant "demonic kettle"
not "strong kettle." Dad's version of the Wawa was the
"pidgin" of Puget Sound and the inland Columbia Basin
and Yakima Valley - he didn't speak Yakama, he didn't
speak GR creole. But he had enough of an idea of
expression to formulate the question.

Despite Dave's remarks, the methodology he suggests
for learning the language is expensive. Making friends
at GR means having the opportunity to come and
actually hang out; but travel is expensive. Long
distance telephone is expensive. Buying books is
expensive.

As for the orthography wars, I surrendered some months
back. B^) Why the subject has been reopened is beyond
me. My only strong opinion on the subject is that the
orthography should have at least one form that can be
done using the standard ASCII character set.

From: Christopher Schindler <chris24 at TELEPORT.COM>
Subject: ISKUM DELATE IKTA or Get real
Content-Type:text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


 Orthography & standardization always seem to be
topics that stimulate lots of activity on the Chinook
list. Just when you think the matter has been
 laid to rest for good, it comes back. It's like a
ritual. Maybe all mailing lists have their rituals.
Hmm...

 I've never commented on this topic so here goes: It
seems to me that if CJ of the Grande Ronde variety (or
any other variety for that matter) were to
 become the standard and its orthography be adopted
for all times & places, there would have to be
television and radio stations broadcasting in it 24/7,
 daily newspapers, magazines of all types like
"Tillicums", novels of all types, not to mention lots
of speakers to devour all this. It also might be
helpful
 to have a holy book that everyone believes in written
in whatever variety of CJ. Instead...we all know the
reality. Grande Ronde is part of a larger trend
 throughout the world to preserve a part of their
cultural heritage which is very much in danger of
disappearing. That the conscientiousness and
 perseverance of individuals working to do so has been
subject to criticism and they themselves have been
made a part of some vague plot to cram
 Grande Ronde CJ down everyone's throat seems to me
just a little insensitive to what is really going on,
not to mention unsupportive.

 Alta nika klatawa, Chris Schindler

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