I've been having fun educating non-Bajans about our culture and especially our slang but I'm gonna dedicate today's Fun Friday segment to all my fellow Bajans around the globe, especially those who haven't been back in a while. I came across the following on the site Totally Barbados and I thought I'd share some of it.
Non-Bajans, by the time I finish my "How to speak like a Bajan" segment, understanding all of this should be a piece of cake for you. Enjoy!
Ya Know Ya is a Bajan When......
• You refer to a national holiday as a "bank holiduh"
• Jug is somethin' ya eat and not somethin' ya does put ya food in
• Ya does move scruffy
• Cheese on bread aint got nuttin to do wid being hungry
• Ya uses words like "fowl cock", "rock stone" and "ram goat"
• Somebody stupid is actually a "poppit"
• Every childhood game can be played for licks
• Soup is a bit of water and nuff dumplings, potatoes, yams, eddoes and any other ground provision ya could find.
• Any hot beverage is considered tea - cocoa tea, coffee tea, tea tea, green tea
• You finish sentences wid de word "dennn"
• You take sick people to the "horsepital "
• You have a bad fall and ya either "lick up", "brek up", "skin up" or "catspraddle"
• The word horn does not conjure up images of Dizzy Gillespie or Jazz music
• Tek is more than the name of a toothbrush
• Yuh does eat leadpipes!!!
• De cardinal points are "eass, wess norf and sowf"!!
• Yuh constantly explaining dat de dolphin you does eat is a fish and not a mammal!
• Nuh fish doan taste like a fish from Baxter's road!! A bread and two is not 3 breads!!!
• A cutter is not a sharp utensil
• All de seasons uh de year start wid "C" - Congaline, Crop Over, Cricket and Christmas!!!
• "Choice bread" doan mean a good selection!
• Yuh does stupse when yuh hear a Tobagonian talking bout "their flying fish"
• Liming in front Cave Shepherd is an integral part a growin' up
• Yuh pun a "brasion"!! Even ef yuh only goin' tuh de beech, yuz be dress dung in bare hard gear
• Yuh just cyant guh town an' doan see someone yuh know
• When somebody call ya pun de phone and say "wait you still home?" or when
da see ya pun de road they ask ya if "ya still living".
• Yuh don't have to be drinking to ask for a scotch
• Yuh don't have to be spiteful to be malicious, or a fotune teller to be "gypsy"
• Yuh call every stranger either boss man, partner or skipper
• It could barely get overcast and everybody coming school in a sweater
• Yuh call a man a 'johnny' and de man name Kevin
• Asking 'fuh piece' cud mean :"gimme a turn", "mek some room for me" or "u cud as well gimme de whole ting coz i licrish"
• 'Banks' not only good for keeping ya money
• When it too hard to spell some a de things ya does say: "wahever" "gohblenya"
• You can "go in Kentucky" or go up Miami Beach without leaving the country
• You say "whappenin" even at a funeral
• De word unmarley en got nutten tuh do wid Bob
• Yuh understand de word bozie
• De word juk could be a noun or a verb
• De word Collins doan mean somebody name
• The word BULL has endless meanings
• If yuh cyan believe someting true yuh does either say "Wait?!" or "fuh chu?!"
• If being "sporty" hardly have enyting to do wid sports
• De word 'Oba' is synonymous wid track and field
• If ya 'did de dawg', it has nothing to do wid a canine
• "Don't off-set me!" is used to mean "leff me lone".
• You distinguish between public and private owned transport by 'bus' and 'van'.
• You 'skin ya teeth' when you smile and 'put up ya face' when you frown
• You can 'go up St Lucy' and 'go down St Lucy' without changing direction
• Words like 'hard' and 'bad' have 30 different meanings
• The word liberty brings to mind 98.1 and not freedom
• The Warehouse is always the warehouse no matter what they name it
• You speak of 'the van stand' and everyone knows what you are talking about even though there are three of them
• The beach refers to the South or West Coast and Bathsheba is anywhere on the East Coast
• Yuh know dat 'hard wine' ain got nuttin tuh do wid liquor
• Yuh might tink dat being a half idiot is worse than being a idiot
• Hell is de worse place ever was, and the best...You could look "good as hell", and dem fishcakes could be "oily as hell", that garbage pile could smell "stink as hell"
• You know the licence plates of all public transportation, and you are on
first name basis with de drivers...
• You could be hot wid perspiration, vex with botheration and sick wid palpitations
• Being described as real ignorant is a compliment
• You spell college with a 'k' and a 'j'!
• Yuh live 5 minutes from de beach and does get a sea-bath 5 times a year...
• When somebody got talk fuh you, dem does never be talking to YOU
• Yuh don't have to be an athlete to know bout de "runnings"
• "Hold" doan necessarily mean "to hold" cuz yuh cud "hol' nuff, nuff licks" in a fight
• Yuh could be anywhere in Bim and still be guin' down East Coast Rd."
• Yuh noah dat "pickin a lime" ain gots nuttin to do wid a visit to de orchard
• Yuh noah dat de Dipper is a person an not a constellation
• When you give directions like this. Go up the street, make a right at the mango tree. Go all the way down till you get to 3 rude boys liming on the block. You will see an Esso. Dont turn there, make a left. You will see a green house. That not it, go straight. It's the blue house in front of the two dunk trees. You can' mis it. It has the white Toyota Camry with the plates S001 in front of it.
• You refer to all storage spaces built in your home as "cupboard."
• You tell the host "Good Night" when you first arrive at someone's home in the evening. And when you leave you say "I ain'dey.
• When someone sympathises with you, you comment "Yuh tink it easy?"
• You always find yourself standing next to plenty luggage and boxes at the airport - when you travel home, you bring an extra suitcase - going down, it has none of your clothes; returning, it has food.
• You hate to throw away empty containers as they might come in handy for pepper sauce or "green seasonings."
• You chew and suck all the marrow from the chicken bone.
• You bring home food from a party
• You chew the ice when you finish your drinks
• At Christmas, you have to have "black cake"
Have a good weekend!
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