Word: bilong
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Guinea's Protestant and Catholic churches. Until 1972, many of the natives bought such publications only for the paper, which they used to roll their pungent plug tobacco. But then Wantok began carrying the adventures of the Phantom translated into pidgin. (Sample dialogue: "Fantom, yu pren tru bilong mi. Inap yu ken helpim mi nau?" Meaning: "Phantom, you are a true friend of mine. Are you able to help me now?") Circulation of the paper began to climb. Illiterates bought their copies and then waited patiently for public readings of their hero's latest adventure. Taking advantage...
Because the territory is home to hundreds of tribes and has nearly 500 different dialects, it struck some members of the Papua New Guinea Executive Council that a new national name might plausibly come from pidgin-the colorful fractured English (mirror, for example, is glas bilong lukluk) that has become the lingua franca of the area. To test popular reaction, the council recently decided to name the proposed national airline Air Niugini. Papuans complained that this might be a happy solution for New Guineans but it was a slight to them. Not so, said the council. Besides being pidgin, niugini...