Exclamations!
BURTON John
john.burton at tsra.gov.au
Sat Nov 24 14:45:44 EST 2001
Thomas
Help, I can't keep up! (I don't have daily access to an FTP-enabled machine
because we have a fussy firewall.)
List of new exclamations (those without references are from Wantok
Newspaper; can anyone confirm oral usage?)
Ah! Tick
Aiyo! Tick - syn for Aya! Means 'Oh my goodness!' (I didn't expect my house
would fall down, I would hurt myself etc)
Asde yet!: Already done! (Smith, 1990: 282) Tick
Aya! Tick see above
bagaros: 1. exclamation (I don't have an example of this. Can anyone
confirm this usage?) 2. good-for-nothing ("Tasol bagaros nogut i gat
strongpela tingting stret long maritim dispela kum katim meri.") 3. guy
("Tasol bagaros ya i painim wanpela diwai na wokim bet bilong tupela long
drip i go daun long wara.")
Dispela mi no harim (but that's no guide).
Bladi bastat!: Bloody bastard! Tick. Also 'Basket yu!' etc as an alternate.
Bladi bulsit!: Bloody bulshit! Tick
Bladi ful! Bloody fool! Tick. A bit obsolete.
Bladi longlong pik!: Bloody stupid pig! (a scolding for babies who excrete
upon their mothers) (Kulick, 1992: 97). This usage may be highly localized.
Kulick did research in a small East Sepik village. Excellent one. I
shall use it everywhere, especially when some piece of equipment
malfunctions.
blari: synonym of bladi Tick
Chans ia!: "Don't miss the opportunity!" (Smith, 1990: 282) [better spelled
as "Sans ia!"] Tick, Tick.
Dok i karim yu!: You son-of-a-bitch! Literally, "A dog gave birth to you!"
(Mühlhäusler, 1979: 337) Tick.
Donabeta!: Blast! From the German Donnerwetter (Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203).
"Literally, 'thunder-weather,' thunderstorm, Damn it!, I'll be damned!"
(Slone, 1995: 85) Tick, but you'd be hard finding it.
Donakail!: Blast! From the German Donnerkeil (Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203).
"Literally, 'thunderbolt,' Damn it!, I'll be damned!" (Slone, 1995: 85)
Ditto
Dumekerl!: Stupid fool! From the German dummer Kerl, "dumb fellow"
(Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203) Ditto
Dumkop!: Idiot! From the German Dummkopf, "dumb-head" (Mühlhäusler, 1985b:
203) Ditto, but current I believe in New Ireland/ENB. See Sweinera below.
Eh! How do you spell it?
Ei! No, I think 'Hai!' below is more believable (Not Hi!). As in Hai! Yu
husat? etc of someone passing through the edge of one's vision, garden,
hamlet area without permission.
Fit meri!: "capable or stylish woman" (Smith, 1990: 283) Double tick.
Givim 60!: "Go fast!" (Smith, 1990: 282) Tick. But Givim! can stand on
its own as well, as in "draiva, givim tasol!" (put your foot down) or "em i
bin givim hat wan" (a punch on the nose).
Note 1: New names of numbers (is this restricted to urban Tok Pisin?):
twenti, teti, foti, fifti, sisti (see Note 2), seventi, eiti, nainti
Note 2: Special meaning of 60
sisti / sikisti / siksti: 1. sixty 2. sixty kilometers/hour, implying a fast
speed (Browne, 1991: 58) example from Wantok Newspaper: "Em i siksti i go
bringim wanpela bikpela bilum long givim dispela man." Tick.
Ha! ?
Hai! See above
Haltmunt! Excl. Shut up! From the German Halt den Mund!, "Hold the
mouth," Shut your mouth!, Shut up! (Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203) Ditto for
German ones.
Hei! This is a special one, as in "Ol gel 'hei hei hei' na ol manki
bagarap". That is the girls were doing their Manus dance (in which 'hei hei
hei' seem to be the only words) ...
Hoi! ?
KBS! / Kanaka bikpela samting!: "You should know!", You yokel, it's obvious!
(Smith, 1990: 283) Transient
Laik gutwan!: "You're putting on airs" (Smith, 1990: 282) Transient?
Maket i op!: The "taboo parts of your body or clothing are showing!" (Smith,
1990: 283). Similar to "Your barn door is open!" in American slang, meaning
"Your pants' zipper is open!" (Cassidy, 1985: 156; Slone, 1995: 91) I
usually say, "Stoa i op".
man: 1. man, husband, person (as per Mihalic) 2. exclamation (Murphy, 1985:
89) Tick
nainsi: an effeminate man (Murphy, 1985: 92) Tick
Nensei! "Expression of desire to a girl" (Smith, 1990: 283) ?
Question: are "nainsi" and "nensei" different words or different spellings
of the same word? Same word.
No waris!: "Don't worry!" (Smith, 1990: 283) Tick
O-a-o.: Short for "Kok-kan-kok." (Mühlhäusler, 1991: 640) Compare to "O-A.
E-a." in Mihalic. Likely story.
Oi! (Also, I've heard something like "Woi!" as an oral exclamation by a
Nissan Islander speaking Tok Pisin to his son. I haven't seen it in
writing. ?
Papelu!: Damn! (Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203) "From the common German exclamation
Verflucht! 'Damned!, Damn it!, Curse it!'" (Slone, 1995: 94) Ditto German
Pik i karim yu!: You son-of-a-bitch! Literally, "A pig gave birth to you."
(Mühlhäusler, 1979: 337) Tick
Rintfi!: Cattle! (Mühlhäusler 1985b: 203) "From the German Rindvieh,
literally, 'cattle,' a stupid person." (Slone, 1995: 96) Ditto German
Saise!: Shit! From the German Scheiße "shit" (Mühlhäusler 1985b: 203)
Ditto German
Sapkop!: Sheep-brained idiot! (Mühlhäusler, 1985b: 203) "From the German
Schafkopf, literally, "sheep's head," a fool, stupid person" (Slone, 1995:
96) Ditto German
Skin dai!: boring, hopeless (Smith, 1990: 283) ?
Stail mangi!: "stylish young person" (Smith, 1990: 2 83) Tick. However,
although it is common enough I don't go for the "mangi" spelling. What's
most common in Wantok?
Strong tru!: You're cheeky! (Smith, 1990: 283) ?
Stupit!: Stupid! (Mühlhäusler, 1985c: 289) Tick
Top mangi!: "Good chap!" (Smith, 1990: 283) Tick
X feiva!: "I like the person exhibiting feature X!" (Smith, 1990: 283)
Transient
Yakabor!: Mihalic (1990: 266) translates this as "You wretch!" It was
included in the Jacaranda dictionary but only translated as an "exclamation
of surprise."
Note: This is from Mihalic's paper on obsolescent words. Question: should
we include known obsolescent words? I think it's of some interest as, one
theory is that it is a contraction of Allah Akbar! Incidentally, Moslem
influence in colonial New Guinea is comparatively weak, despite many Malay
indentured labourers 1890-1901, whereas here in Torres Strait Muhammad,
Ibraham, bin xxx are common enough family names among islanders.
Yu gat bikpela bol!: You are unable to walk properly! You are bandy-legged!
You are a slowpoke! (Tok Piksa) Literally, "You have big balls (testicles)."
(Todd and Mühlhäusler, 1978: 30) Bol sulap! Draipela bol! etc
Yupela kaikai as kunai!: Exclamation referring to Highlanders (Strathern,
1975: 278; Strathern, 1990)
Note: Mosel (1980: 31) gives a more specific etymology for kunai as being
from the Tolai Language. Obsolete, if ever widely heard. As tangket
would make sense, not as kunai except as an allusion.
Yu malumalu!: You're soft (impotent)! (Mühlhäusler, 1979: 336) Tick.
Many variants
Yu nogat bun!: You're soft! (Tok Piksa) (Mühlhäusler, 1979: 336)
Tick. Many variants
Yu pik!: You Pig! (Kulick, 1992: 210)
Question: Is this localized usage. See note on Kulick, above. Tick.
Many variants
Question: Are "donabeta", "donakai", "dumekerl", "dumkop", "haltmunt"
"papelu", "rintfi", "saise" and "stupit", "yakabor" archaic or are they
localized? We can't tell without getting some blari PNGeans on board. I
keep emailing people but it's like getting blood out of a stone. THIS IS AN
ALL STATIONS CALL FOR PNGEANS TO GET INVOLVED. However, bear in mind that we
need old fogies not young whipper-snappers for these. (The whipper-snappers
can tell us about the new slang.)
Muhlhausler omits "Sweinera!" from German "Schweinerai!" Schweinerai means
(i) a disgusting mess (ii) a dastardly, back-stabbing plot. "Sweinera!" only
means the former, e.g. a mother swearing at children who've just knocked her
things over. Old New Irelanders, Tolais would say it.
References not already included in the bibliography: THANKS!!
Browne, Bob ([1991]). The Grass Roots Guide to Papua New Guinea Pidgin. Port
Moresby: Grass Roots Comic.
Kulick, Don (1990). "Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction:
Socialization, Self, and Syncretism in a Papua New Guinea Village." Studies
in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language No. 14. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Mihalic, Francis. (1990). "Obsolescence in the Tok Pisin Vocabulary," in
Melanesian Pidgin and Tok Pisin: Proceedings of the First International
Conference of Pidgins and Creoles in Melanesia, John W. M. Verhaar, ed.
Studies in Language Companion Series, vol. 20. Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing, pp. 263-273.
Mühlhäusler, Peter. (1985b). "Etymologising and Tok Pisin," In Handbook of
Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin), Stephen A. Wurm and Peter Mühlhäusler, eds.
Series C, No. 70. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National
University, pp. 177-219.
Mühlhäusler, Peter. (1985c) "Good and Bad Pidgin." In Handbook of Tok Pisin
(New Guinea Pidgin). Stephan A. Wurm and Peter Mühlhäusler, eds. Series C,
No. 70. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University,
pp. 275-291.
Mühlhäusler, Peter. (1991) "Watching Girls Pass by in Tok Pisin." English
Around the World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Jenny Cheshire, ed. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Mosel, Ulrike (1980). Tolai and Tok Pisin: The Influence of the Substratum
on the Development of New Guinea Pidgin. Series B, No. 73. Canberra: Pacific
Linguistics, The Australian National University.
Slone, Thomas H. (1995). "Tok Nogut: An Introduction to Malection in Papua
New Guinea." Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression 11:
75-104.
Strathern, Marilyn (1975). No Money on Our Skins: Hagen Migrants in Port
Moresby. New Guinea Research Bulletin, No. 61. Canberra: New Guinea Research
Unit, The Australian National University.
Todd, Loreto, and Mühlhäusler, Peter (1978). "Idiomatic Expressions in
Cameroon Pidgin English and Tok Pisin." Papers in Pidgin and Creole
Linguistics 1: 1-35.
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