Pasindia

[John Burton]

From: Bryant Allen <bja406 at coombs.anu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Pasindia
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At 12:18 PM 13-11-00 +1100, John Burton wrote:
 >Questions:
>1. Bus travellers are ol pasindia. Are people who go by other conveyances
>pasindias too?

Certainly aircraft. Air Niugini hosti use the phrase on every flight (in
pidgin).
>
>2. Has anybody heard haus pasindia recently? I think most speakers would be
>confused by it.

Yes, 2 weeks ago in the E.Sepik. No confusion at all. Refered to a house in
a village that can be used for visitors to a project.
>
>3. Isn't a pasindia meri a woman believed to be sexually promiscuous,
rather
>than a prostitute? She is accused of going from man to man, and although
>this may have been an early manifestation of the sex industry, is there not
>now a clear distinction between a pasindia meri and a prostitute?

But neither is 'pamuk' restricted to prostitution. A 'pamuk pikinini' is an
illegit. child,  to 'pamuk nabaut' is to act promiscuously.

A gratuitous comment on loan words etc. I am often told I speak proper
pidgin. I have 'gutpela save long tok pisin', probably because I learned TP
in the Sepik about 25 years ago. As a result, people tend not to use
Pidginized English to me, but use Mihalic style pisin. I wonder how much of
the loan words are just there to accomodate poor speakers of Pidgin? I know
some people (who shall remain nameless) who learned their Pidgin in the
HIghlands 25 years ago, and they speak terrible Pidgin!

Bryant



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bryant J Allen - Senior Fellow and Head - Department of Human Geography

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies - The Australian National
University, ACT 0200
Australia. Phone + 61  2   6249 4347  Fax + 61  2  6249 4896