FW: [Mihalic] Two ?new? pidgin words from Sandaun

[John Burton]

Mi tu mi save wokabaut long kain rot olsem, tasol mi no klia nau. Ating yu
mas tok stret: 'baret' i olsem wanpela samting we ol man i bin digim, o we
wara i bin digim.

I luk olsem 'baret' i gat planti wok bilong em.

Regards
JB

Dr John Burton
Research Fellow
Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
ACT 0200 Australia
 
tel +61 2 6125 5939
fax + 61 2 6125 1635
john.burton at anu.edu.au
 

> I have just returned from a week staying at Rangwe village, 
> about an hours walk south from Mukili airstrip, southeast of Lumi, in 
> Sandaun. Recently, on the promise of an upgraded road from 
> Nuku to Namblo, people have cleared the mission road of scrub 
> and walking is generally very pleasant again.
> 
> In pidgin these graded tracks, both vehicle and walking 
> tracks are called "spet rot" or literally a 'spade road', a road formed
using spades.
> 
> They are also called "baret". Just that, not "rot". When I 
> first heard the conversation, "Yu go long wonem rot?" from a villager to
our 
> guide, who replied, "Mipela go long baret", my heart sank, because I 
> thought we were about to plunge into the bush, straight down a vertical
200m 
> descent into the stream (the baret) below and then straight up the other 
> side. But no, we proceeded along the graded track. The graded tracks are 
> called  "baret". Presumably, this is because most graded tracks have a
baret 
> alongside them.

> 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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