Tilikom (tilixam) = Indian, and other observations

[David Robertson]

I couldn't resist sharing some notes from a late issue of Kamloops Wawa 
(July 1915, written in French).  I've pointed out before that "tilikom" or 
tilixam, tillicum, didn't just mean "people" but had a primary association 
with Indian people, at least in the Kamloops Wawa variety.  That's why we 
find expressions like "tilikom, sitkom tilikom pi tkop man", "Indians, 
halfbreeds & whites".  Expanding on these ideas:

Le Jeune comments on how Europeanized the Indians now are; how Le Jeune’s 
old aunt “Marie-Anne Pip” in France was surprised that Chiefs Louis & 
Celestin dressed as all the Indians do, in white man’s clothes, with no 
bows & arrows—she couldn’t keep from blurting “But those are gentlemen, 
not Indians!”; Le Jeune notes it’s ironic to call them “Sauvages” (wild 
people); some years ago, the Nicola people had a saying, “Whites are 
whites & Indians are Indians”; Le Jeune also relates the anecdote of a 
lady whose baby he was about to baptize several years ago—he asked, “Is it 
a boy or a girl?” and she replied “No, no!  It’s Indian!”

--Dave R

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