Queen I Kamap
p. 23 · Read in the full issue
THE Pidgin newspaper Rabaul News of December 19, an nounced the arrival of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in Fiji and Tonga in this fashion: DISPELA wik Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II i kamap Fiji na Tonga.
This is how later Fiji proceedings were described: Bihain tupela igo malolo na kaikai long Government House.
Long avinun oli presentim Queen long wanpela ring pearl. Duke long sitik bilong wokabaut, Prince Charles long wanpela liklik kanu na Princess Ann long wanpela doll. Long nait Queen na man bilong em tupela i kamap long bigpela danis long Suva.
The first sentence means that: This week the Queen arrived (came up) at Fiji and Tonga. The rest says that: Later the Queen and the Duke (tupela or two-fella) rested and ate at Government House, then, in the afternoon, the Queen was presented with a pearl ring, the Duke with a “stick-walk about,” Prince Charles with a model canoe and Princess Ann with a doll. At night, the Queen and her husband (man bilong em) went to a big dance in Suva.
As others have pointed out —if they ever intend to teach the natives of New Guinea straight English, feeding them the peculiar lingo that written Pidgin has now become seems a strange way to go about it.