order; an if we seh dem 'boonoonoonoos',3 yuh know seh dat dem nice an we like dem. Mmmm.
Aunty Roachy seh dat Jamaica Dialec is more direc an to de point dan English. For all like how English smaddy would seh 'Go away', Jamaican jus seh 'Gweh!' An de only time we use more wuds dan English is when we want fi meek someting soun strong: like when dem seh sinting 'batter-batter' up, it soun more expressive dan if yuh seh 'it is battered.' But most of all we fling weh all de bangarang an trimmins4-dem an only lef what wantin, an dat's why when English smaddy seh 'I got stuck by a prickle' Jamaican jus seh 'Macca5 jook me'!
So fi-we Jamaica Language is not no English Language corruption at all, a
oh! An we no haffi shame a it, like one gal who did go a Englan go represent
we Jamaican folk-song 'One shif me got' as 'De sole underwear garment I
possess', and go sing 'Mumma, Mumma, dem ketch Puppa' as 'Mother,
Mother, they apprehended Father'!
A y ya yie!
1979-81 1993
Dry-Foot Bwoy1
Wh a wrong wid Mary dry-foot bwoy? De m gal got him fi mock,? The girls are mocking him
6. Compel. 3. Beautiful; wonderful (term of endearment). 7. Only. 'Boogoo-yagga': ill-mannered. 8. Outwitted. 4. Miscellaneous trash and trimmings. 9. Can't. 'Smaddy': people. 5. A prickly plant. 1. Rough; rocky. 'Sinting': something. 1. Thin-legged (inexperienced) boy. 2. Unsteady.
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BENNETT: DRY-FOOT BWOY / 2471
An when me meet him tarra night De bwoy gi me a shock!
Me tell him seh him auntie an Hi m cousin dem sen howdy2 An ask him how him getting awn. Hi m seh, 'Oh, jolley, jolley!'
Me start fi feel so sorry fi
De po bad-lucky soul, Me tink him come a foreign lan Com e ketch bad foreign cole!
Me tink him got a bad sore-troat, But as him chat-chat gwan Me fine out seh is foreign twang De bwoy wasa put awn!3
For me notice dat him answer To nearly all me seh Wa s 'Actually', 'What', 'Oh deah!' A n all dem sinting deh.? All of them things there
Me gi a joke, de gal dem laugh; But hear de bwoy, 'Haw-haw! I'm sure you got that bally-dash? nonsense, balderdash Out of the cinema!'
Same time me laas me temper, an Me holler,'Bwoy, kirout!0 clear out No chat to me wid no hot pittata Eena yuh mout!'
Hi m tan? up like him stunted, den stand
Hear him no, 'How silley! I don't think that I really Understand you, actually.'
Me seh, 'Yuh understan me, yaw! No yuh name Cudjoe Scoop? Always visit Nan a kitchen an Gi laugh fi gungoo soup!4
'An now all yuh can seh is 'actually'? Bwoy, but tap! Wh a happen to dem sweet Jamaica
Joke yuh use fi pop?'
2. I told him that his auntie and his cousins sent 4. Chastising the boy for his pretensions, the [or send] greetings. speaker reminds him that he is Afro-Jamaican. 3. But as he kept talking I realized his foreign Cudjoe and Nana are African names used in accent was put on. Jamaica. 'Gungoo': Congo pea.
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247 2 / NATION AND LANGUAGE
Hi m get bex? and walk tru de door, vexed Hi m head eena de air; De gal-dem bawl out affa him,5 'Not going? What! Oh deah!'
45 An from dat night till tedeh, mah, De m all got him fi mock. Miss Mary dry-foot bwoy! Cyaan get over de shock!
1957
Colonization in Reverse
Wha t a joyful news, Miss Mattie; Ah feel like me heart gwine burs ? Jamaica people colonizin Englan in reverse.1
5 By de hundred, by de tousan, Fro m country an from town, By de ship-load, by de plane-load, Jamaica is Englan boun.
De m a pour out a Jamaica;
io Everybody future plan Is fi get a big-time job An settle in de motherlan.
What a islan! What a people! Ma n an woman, ole an young 15 Jussa pack dem bag an baggage An tun history upside dung!? down
Some people doan like travel, But fi show dem loyalty De m all a open up cheap-fare
