[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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