THE SINGET SEWING MACHINE

 

Many of you know that Chamorro does not like ending words with the letters R or L. Final R or L become a T when said in Chamorro.

SPANISH	CHAMORRO	ENGLISH
COLOR	KOLOT	color
ÁNGEL	ÅNGHET	angel

 

This advertisement in the Guam Daily News in 1959 shows how our elders pronounced SINGER as in SINGER SEWING MACHINE.

They said SINGHET or SINGET.

Notice that "sewing machine" is MÅKINAN MAN LAKSE." Man låkse' means "to sew" and måkina is machine.

"Limited quantity" is rendered "ti meggai tetehnan" or "not many left."

"Monthly payments" is "Siña un apåse pot mes," or "You can pay by month."

Our elders had no trouble paraphrasing the English in Chamorro, rather than invent new words that are stranger than the paraphrase.

SINCE SPANISH TIMES

Apparently, there were Singer sewing machines on Guam even in the late Spanish period.

A book published in Manila in 1895 claimed that there was a Singer Sewing Company outlet in the Marianas, probably meaning Guam.

The above citation reads, in English,

The Singer Company has more than 2000 houses established in the principle population centers of the world and the Philippines agency, besides the outlets in Manila, Iloilo, Cebu and Tacloban, has agents in the principle population centers in the Archipelago and also in both the Carolines and Marianas.