I was recently inspired by a post from Robin Johnston's blog in South Africa, entitled English-English Translation, which highlights some of the interesting local jargon (check it out!)http://adventureinjoburg.blogspot.com/2011/06/english-english-translation.html Anyone who has been to St. Kitts will know that people here speak fast and share a dialect and accent that is quite unique to the other countries in the Caribbean. I can't count the number of times when I've been listening to someone speak and by the time they finish I have this blank stare on my face, and have to kindly ask them to repeat themselves. This has proven to be a bit of an obstacle for me, as a large part of the research that I do here at the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) requires me to go into villages and converse with residents, lead community meetings and discussions, and speak with key individuals to aquire information on the social, economic, and environmental conditions that people living in poverty face. Nevertheless, I'm learning, and Lord knows I get a good laugh out of the folks here whenever I try to slip in some of their colloquial expressions into my own speech.
So here's a few of the terms and phrases that I hear most often:
Lime/Limin' - Chillin' with friends. "We're limin' with the guys"
Cook-up (aka Pelau in Trinidad) - A dish consisting of different meats thrown into a pot of rice and peas and whatever else...basically one big pot of leftovers.
Me n no - I don't know
Relish - meats
Trans - a ride (stems from transportation). "You got trans tonight?"
Everything bless? - How are you? Is everything good?
Everything bless/ Everything chris - In response to the greeting, it means everything's good
Wine up/ Wuk up - to dance, usually very sexually explicitly
Plait - (pronounced 'plat'] to braid. "Let me plait your hair."
Meet you at 6:00 - Generally means meet you around 7:00 or later!
Don't study that - Forget about it; don't worry about it
Me fathers (pronounced 'me fah-ders') - a common expression of exclamation, or exhalation. Originally meant that you're putting all your struggles on your father
Neat! Love the list, they say "plait" here too! All the kids always want to plait my hair.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they think about you when you talk? Maybe......."Man it takes her so long to say something."
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if I will hear an accent in your speech when you get home.
You will have to "cook-up" a meal for us and we will have to find some "trans" for you while you are here.
Mom