The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-14


local conditions. And it is surprising how
quickly one picks up the idea Of the thing
under stress of necessity and how fluent
a conversation can be maintained provided
no attempt be made 10 enlarge the scope
of the talk by excursions into matters I'M
familiar 10 the native mind and repugnauI
or incomprehensible to its preconceived
notions. Probably to every one who has
been in Hong Kong or one of the treaty
ports some such conversation as the fol-
lowing has been addressed "Chin-chin,
master You jussee now come Hong
Kong side? My chin-chin you number one
good chancee. Some man talkee YOU
wanchee one good boy makee take care
you pidgin. My hab findee one Number
one good piece. He hab got down side.
He b-long ALA same my young bother.
You likee look see he? He sabe Englishee
ta!kee well well, ALA same my" Being
interpreted, this would run so; Good
morning, sir. You have just arrived at
Hong Kong? l wish you the best of sue
cess. They say you want a good boy to
wait upon you | have found an excel
lent one. He is down stairs. He is IA
kind young relation of mine. Would you
like 10 see him? He can speak English
very well, Just as l do"
This is not a discourse on Chinese man
ners and customs but it may serve a
good purpose to point OUT that the en-
gaging of a boy" without inquiry into
his antecedents and merely on the rec
ommendation of a feilow-countryman is
not unattended with risks 10 your posses
sions. But d good servant is a treasure,
even though his scrupulosity is not in
variably commendable. | remember on
one occasion, when coming from Yung-
Chow Ghe landing place for Peking) to
Tien Tsin down the Peiho river in one OF
those square households which take two
days or more TO do eighty miles, there
was dispute as to the boat fare. The
boy was instructed to offer S. the boat
man. who knew no pidgin, said $l2 There
was much talk in the native, and in the
end the boy said: "Masser, pay he eight
dollah,' and we cook trip. Asked how he
had induced the boatman to abate mis-
claim, the superior boy, who had beeh in
the customs service and understood for
egn. ways, said: Master. mussee
wanchee do ALA same English fashion
q must do as the English do) My talkee
twellub dollah. Catchee Tien Tsin, my
pay he eight dollah, talkee go debble."
In plain English, although $12 was agreed
upon, the youth proposed on arrival at
Tien Tsin 10 pay only IS and TO tell the
boatman to go TO the devil for the bal
ance- which shows that the youth had
profited by his experience of the customs
service. A young man who called upon
two young ladies was gravely Informed
by abe Chinese servant who opened the
door that two side makee washee,
washee, washee. Number two piece side
makee washee,. washee Number two
piece go outside makee walkee, walkee."
BY which he meant to say that the elder
of the two was taking a bath up stairs
and the younger had gone out.
In "pidgin'' the personal pronoun is al
ways he" not "she'' or 1T" "Maske"
dn spite of is probably from the S-an-
ish "par mas que" chit" from Hindu
stane, is letter; "Fo-lang- say" means
French and "Jamt ola German II he
we're called upon to say that the French
and the Germans are at war. the good
Chinaman would put it this way; Jam
boIa man long Fo-lang-say man jussee
now begin fightee." The pidgin interpre-
what ting" so that what is that be-
comes That b'long who mann" "Sabe,"
of course, is to know OF understand, as
my sabe EngIisbee;" "catchee' is TO get
or receive, as my catchee'' tone chit"
or that steamer catchee Hong Kong side
today" "catchee kiI'um" is TO be killed.
while "makee die" signifies a peaceful
end Pidgin English admits on occasion
Of extreme epigrammatic expression, and
No CAM" The Celestials explanation o
the reason why he had painted an eye on
the bows of his boat is another good ex
amrle. "S'pose got eye" he remarked.
"can see S'pose can see can sabe. S'roEe
no can see, how can sabeT' II must be
allowed. on the other hand, that the Ian
guage is sometimcs extremely clumsy. Ex
amples viii be found in the quotations
we have given, but another may be add
ed There was a quarrel between boy
and an English maidservant, who had ac-
cused him of lying, and the boy said in
terrcgatively:
you talkee you talkee tlue pidgin, my
talkee lie pidgin?"
"S'pose / do" retorted the maid.
"S pose you talkee you talkee tue pid-
gin, my talkee lie pidgin-no 'caslon
out of the place he bounded.
This specimen shows what are the linn
itations of pidgin. The first query, as
expressed by one with a proper under
standing of English. would have been
couched pretty much in this way: do
YOU say that you are telling the truth
and that ] am Yelling les?" The vocab-
ulary of pidgin Is not equal TO this. nor
could the cooiie give utterance to II. in
de fault of a very intimate acquaintance
with our tongue. for the reason already
mentioned--that he thinks In his native
Chinese. But. like the energetic beetle
of the American verse. he gets there ali
the same" / may conclude this paper.
which does not pretend to touch more
than the fringe Of a wide and really in
terestlng subject. with a further sample
which will, like more than one of those
which have gone before, serve the add
tional purpose OF illustrating an Interest
ing Chinese custom. A European meets
a Chinese acquaintance accompanying a
coffin which IS being conveyed along the
street, and asks him:
who hab der
NO man hab catchee de- is the an