Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-27
DON'T LIKE THAT
PIGEON ENGLISH
oRIENTALS PROTEST AGAINST
BROKEN SPEECH
EXPRESS MUCH INDIGNATION
Prefer to Have a Person address
Them Correctly or Peddle Trou-
bles EIsewhere-tiotel Keep
ers Are Warned

II you want to get along with Chi
nese or Japanese merchantmen don't
talk pigeon English to him.
The ire of the oriental inhabitants of
Los Angeles has been raised to such a
point that unless conditions change
soon there is likely to be a cleaning
out" process instituted in the local
quarter.
"Melican man" will henceforth take
notice that pigeon" English is most
offensive to the Mongolians; they would
prefer to have a person come right out
"fiat footedly" and either talk English
as It is writ" or peddle his or her
troubles, as the case may be, else
where.
1t is said II the present state Of af-
fairs continues long hotel keepers may
be requested to hang signs in the cor
rldors of their places bearing something
like the following inscription:
Patrons of this hotel when visiting
the merchant stores Of local orientals
are kindly requested to speak the Eng
lsh language in as perfect a manner
as they know how"
The flghht by the foreigners has been
taken up in earnest and they have
fairly been driven to desperation by the
language of their customers.
Causes Embarrassment
A recent incident of particularly
embarrassing nature is cited by a
wealthy merchant as one Of his grounds
of complaint. The merchant is a Jap
anese and speaks the English language
fuently.
1.-Two women" says this merchant,
recently entered my place of business
on Alameda street. They evidently de-
sired to purchase some kimonas and
the way they went about it was highly
entertaining for time, but later
proved embarrassing. The women
were young and the prettiest of the
two addressed me as follows: Say,
John, wanta fine second storiee Dress
making notions toward her neck.
'Wanta fina dress; you knowa, wanta
Jap lady early sunshine clothes
Il looked at the young women in sur
prise. l understood that they wanted
kimonas, but why they should have
chosen this remarkable and ancient
mode of sign and sound language to
impress upon me the nature of their
desires l was at a loss to understand.
l therefore called to my boy and sug-
sested that he get the talkative wo-
man a drink of water in order to re-
lieve her of hysteria.
while the youth was after the water,
one of the young women turned to her
companion and said, Blanche, amt it
a shame that a rusty old heather
should own all this fine stuff? It's a
pity that civilized people who can ap-
preciate them cannot have these fine
silk garments
Reads Homer's Iliad
when 1 found that the young wo-
men persisted in using this sort of
language 1 sent for an Interpreter
who understands all these strange Gus
toms, and after he had arrived and
was talking with the girls, l picked
up a copy Of Homer's Had. ] had an
English version of the book and one
of the girls curiously looked at the in-
scription. Excuse me, Miss Blanche
I said, but if you really would like
to see this book you may have it,"
Reports from many of the merchants
state that wealthy fasteners are con-
stantly talking pigeon" English TO
them, calling them Charlie" and
John" and making remarks about
their personal appearance before their
very faces. The men are not so much
under the ban as the women who fiut-
ter about the shops and call ivory
white wood" and who when pur-
chasing an image of Shaka frequently
refer to the powerful god as heap