Pidgin-english

an extraordinary jargon' in use between native servants, shopmen, etc., on the one side, and foreigners who do not speak Chinese on the other. The word pidgin is supposed to be the Chinese attempt to pronounce the word busine ; pidgin-English is therefore 'busine - English'; it is certainly not literary English. In the main it is a limited number of English words used more or IMG:p449_5.png:Chinese characters according to Chinese idiom, and also mispronounced. The fewest po ible number of English words are in u-se: thus my is made to do duty for / and me. "I cannot" becomes "My no can," and "It is not my affair" is "No belong IMG:p449_6.png:Chinese characters pidgin." The sensele dialect originated with the "linguists" (q.v.), in the old Canton days when very few foreigners spoke Chinese and no Chinese knew English. With the increase of intercourse it is rapidly pa ing out of us© and will happily vanish before long. Dyer Ball: Things Chinese; Leland: Pidgin- English Sing-Song.