[Mihalic] Pocket Vocabulary 1942
Bryant Allen
bja406 at coombs.anu.edu.au
Wed Jan 12 10:15:44 EST 2005
A friend of mine recently handed me a copy of A Pocket Vocabulary of
Malay, Pidgin English and Japanese Phrases for the use of U.S. Troops in
the Southwest Pacific Area, prepared by the Office of the Assistant Chief
of Staff, G-2, United States Army Services of Supply, Southwest Pacific
Area. Printed by the Office of Chief Engineer, USA, SOS, SWPA. Date of
Publication, October, 1942. It is pocket sized. He found this copy lying on
the ground in a Canberra street.
On checking through the pidgin part, a few interesting words occur.
kali fai - to hide or secrete [I can't find anything approximating this in
Mihalic and have never heard it used in PNG].
kunda mani - paper money [Mihalic has this listed as "konda". Not in common
use today?]
namba - a metal tax receipt worn around the neck on a string [not in Mihalic].
sleeptroo (slip tru) - to sleep [not in Mihalic and I don't remember it -
does it imply that in the 1940s "slip" meant 'recumbent' and "slip tru"
meant to be asleep?]
Dr Bryant Allen
Senior Fellow
Land Management Group
Department of Human Geography
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
ACT 0200 Australia
ANU CRICOS Provider Number is 00120C
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