"Saibashi" in Canadian Japanese

[Colin Bruce]

No, Sorry Yann,

I never did hear Mrs. Tsunota speak about First Nations People in Japanese.  Being on the otherside
of the world from home I can't just pop over for a visit.  Sooo, I'll have to see if I can organise
one of my cousins to ask.

Just for historical interest, I grew up in Hope, BC, which was near the Infamous WWII Tashme
Internment Camp.  Many of the Japanese Names in the town, (Sato, Kawaguchi, Murakami, Tsunota off
the top of my head) came from people who settled after their release.  Tashme is of course not a
Japanese Word but a composite of the surnames of the three members of the B.C. Security Commission:
TA for Austin C. Taylor; SH for John Shirras; and ME for F.J. Mead.
A very sad story.

c





janilta <janilta at J.EMAIL.NE.JP>@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG> on 15-05-2003 10:43:03

Please respond to janilta <janilta at J.EMAIL.NE.JP>

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Subject:  Re: "Saibashi" in Canadian Japanese

Hello,

So you did actually hear Mrs Tsunota use the word 'saibashi' for
Amerindians ? This is interesting.
I think there is not much that can be learned through writing as this
word is by no means standard Japanese. Ro-maji (no 'n') and katakana
(basically foreign words but not only) being the only possible options.
There cannot be logical kanji or kanji-hiragana compositions for a word
born and used in Canada.
The pun reference to 'saibashi' (long chopsticks) might not be for
humour but for phonological resemblance. Just a guess.

Regards from rainy Tokyo, Yann








      ____________________________________
      Colin Bruce
      Application Developer
      Smartline Home Loans
      Phone 02 8226 3776 / 02 9877 0099
      Fax 02 9877 0952
      Email cbruce at smartline.com.au
      http://www.smartline.com.au
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