Posted: under "Jamaica Labrish ~ Louise Bennett".
Tags: Anansi, argument, calypso, creativity, dance, demonstration, dialect, English, fun, humor, Jamaica, Jamaican, labrish, language, lyrics, Miss Lou, originality, patois, reggae, style, vernacular
Miss Lou
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Anansi, Miss Lou and the ‘raw chaw’ argument
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Published: Sunday | March 8, 2009
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Killing originality
In one of her wicked poems, ‘Bans a Killin’ Miss Lou persuasively argues that Jamaican - which she calls ‘dialect’ - is not inferior to English. And she firmly puts in his place censorious Mas Charlie who, somewhat like the Broadcasting Commission these days, is trying to kill off verbal creativity in the slack local language. Here are the first two and the last two verses of Miss Lou’s poem:
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So yuh a de man me hear bout!
Ah yuh dem seh dah teck
Whole heap a English oat seh
dat
Yuh gwine kill dialect!
Posted: under "Jamaica Labrish Korner", "SMILE" Jamaica ~ "Once You Go --- You Know", Jamaican Jokes.
Tags: age, alcohol, anger, anxiety, aroma, beer, boots, breakfast, car, Caribbean, cat, cemetery, champagne, children, Chinese, cold, cow, culture, custom, depression, dialect, dinner, era, eyes, family, fashion, food, fragrance, funny, ghost, gin, girl, glasses, highway, hilarious, history, home, horse, House, humor, ice, island, Jamaica, Jamaican, jokes, journey, language, laughter, lifestyle, light, liquor, man, mirror, Miss Lou, obituary, odor, others, path, patois, perfume, period, pumps, recipe, reflection, road, rum, scent, scotch, sex, smell, smiles, stress, style, sugar, Sunday, teeth, tequila, time, traffic, travel, treats, trip, vegetable, vegetables, veggie, veggies, vehicle, vernacular, vodka, whiskey, wine, wisdom, woman, words
Yu kno seh dem is a Jamaican wen dem…..
Express disgust by ’sucking’ or ‘kissing’ their teeth
Point with their mouth
‘Cut yeye’ when upset with someone
Wear a ‘frock’, not a dress
Refer to fancy shoes as ‘boot’
Stir the ice in their drinks to make it colder
Take the ice in their mouth and spit it back into the glass while drinking
Eat the ice loudly when the ‘drinks’ is finished
Refer to vegetables, yams, green bananas, etc as ‘hard food’ or just ‘food’
Strip sugar cane with their teeth
Refer to any traveling distance as ‘jus’ roun’ di car-nah!’
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Nov 29 2008
Posted: under "Jamaica Labrish ~ Louise Bennett".
Tags: abroad, Africa, African, black, blacks, color, colors, culture, dialect, England, Englishman, foreign, granny, heritage, history, humor, Jamaica, Jamaican, labrish, language, laughter, Miss Lou, patois, smiles, vernacular
“Jamaica Labrish ~ Louise Bennett”
Back to Africa
LOUISE BENNETT
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Back to Africa, Miss Mattie?
You no know wha you dah seh?
You haf fe come from somewhe fus
Before you go back deh!
…
Me know say dat you great great great
Granma was African,
But Mattie, doan you great great great
Granpa was Englishman?
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Sep 29 2008
Posted: under "Jamaica Labrish ~ Louise Bennett".
Tags: culture, dialect, England, heritage, history, Jamaica, Jamaican, labrish, language, life, loyalty, Miss Lou, patois, travel, vernacular
“Jamaica Labrish ~ Louise Bennett”
“Colonizing in Reverse”
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Jamaica people colonizin
Englan in reverse.
By de hundred, by de t’ousan
From country and from town,
By de ship-load, by de plane-load
Jamaica is Englan boun.
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Dem a-pour out o’ Jamaica,
Everybody future plan
Is fe get big-time job
An settle in de mother lan.
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Sep 29 2008