And interesting, Silk, how far those Portuguese sailors travelled. I knew I'd heard your "pickanninnies" before, and it was when I was in Papua New Guinea.

pikinini

Pacific Pidgin English: *pikinini. The ultimate origin is with Portuguese ‘pequeninho’; it came to to Pacific Pidgin English from earlier pidgins (‘Atlantic Pidgin’ etc) carried round the world by sailors.

1. Noun form
Kind of person: a baby, a child, son, daughter, niece, nephew, descendant, adopted child, familiar term of address for any younger person
pikinini man a son
pikinini meri a daughter
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V227152E

Dispela meri imus go na mekim wok nau..
I've got to go do some work now!