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Word |
Meaning |
|
|
A Ogun |
Shango person shrine |
achar or anchar |
Indian food; a mixture of pieces of free mango and other fruit with peppers, ground massala, vinegar and salt in mustard oil; it is an E Indian preserved condiment |
acqui |
teacher |
ageable |
old |
Ah |
substitute for ‘I’ |
Ah gone |
‘I am leaving now’ |
Ah sah |
an expression of despair |
akara |
a fritter made of shredded saltfish mixed in a batter of flour and seasoning. |
alé |
to go |
Allah |
the Supreme Being (Islamic) |
allyuh or among you |
all of you people; group |
alpargata |
shoe |
aredi |
all ready |
arrada-a |
common Big Drum Dance used for healing sick people |
asham |
sugar and ground parched corn. A must for All Saints night |
ax |
ask, to ask a question |
aye-yah-yie |
expression of anticipation or pain, etc. |
| Top | |
babu |
grandfather (Hindi) |
bacchanal |
scandal, heavy quarreling, big party, confusion |
back chat |
insolent response, especially from a child to an adult |
backayo |
back of yonder (refers to an area over the village of Windward in Carriacou. Near St. Hillaire (St. ‘laire) (accent the last syllable) |
bad-eye (cut-eye) |
a look of anger, especially when looking from the corner of the eye |
badman |
a macho, brave, fearless and courageous Rasta; sometime may mean violent or showing unsavory behavior |
bageede |
a kind of evil spirit that takes people and drags them in the bushes |
baho |
behind back |
ba-john or bajon |
a bully or a really tough customer |
bakra béké |
white boss |
baldhead |
non-Rasta members of one’s family |
balis |
to eat |
balishae |
broad-leafed plant |
bambye |
bye and bye, in time to come, in the future (accent the first syllable) |
bamsee |
the rear end, what you sit on |
bamsee lambe |
rather attractive bamsee |
bangalang |
a loud metallic sound |
bashie |
in the old days a féte where you paid 10 cents a dance |
basodi |
confused, stupefied, light-headed |
bath suit |
bathing suit |
basourdi |
stupefied |
batiment de cheh |
asthma |
bavay |
dry saliva around the mouth in the morning after bed |
bawl-out |
to cry out loud |
bazoodee |
stupidity, evil |
bed time stories |
when husband and wife discuss privately at nights |
beff! |
to fall with a loud noise |
beh-beh |
a stupid person (eg.) ‘Shaddaye is ah real beh-beh’ |
Béké |
Whites |
bête rouges |
minute little insects, almost invisible to the naked eye |
bladdaw or broadies (modern, 1960s) |
big disk shaped dumplins (pronounced blah’ daw) |
blammin’ |
slamming and banging |
bluggoe |
vegetable in the plantain/banana family |
bobo |
skin sore; sore foot; badder than anything else; figuratively a high compliment – “Bwhy, I had a lawyer for she arse; ‘e bad as bobo and ‘e hard as grugru…Huh, e go give ha cat piece and pepper.” (pronounced boh’ boh) |
bobol or bubul |
dishonesty, bribery, bribe |
bol’face |
a pushy person, unreasonably demanding |
boli or bolie dish |
calabash, a large round fruit (a word of African – Wolof - origin |
Bon Jay Peni Mueh |
Good God Help Us! |
Bon Jé or Bon Jay |
Good God (Bon Dieu) |
Bongo |
Rasta honorific; in everyday speech, the status of male individuals as elders |
boobooman |
ghost |
borve tup |
lie too much |
bounce |
run into something; hit |
bram |
same as bashie |
Bram |
a professional dance, which is popular in La Portie and St. John, St. Andrews |
brango |
spicy gossip |
breaking biche |
playing truant |
broughtupsy |
showing that a person was properly brought up; decorum |
brutalize me tap |
damage the faucet |
Buckras |
White people |
buh wait nah |
but wait a minute, now hold on/it |
bujut |
a man who likes to fight in dance with his razor and knife |
bull pistle |
a tough, long whip made with the penis of a bull |
bush bath |
a bath with herbs, or bush, in it, given by an obeahman or obeahwoman for illness or bad luck |
buss he face |
hit him hard in the face |
‘But look my cross!’ |
‘Well, I never;’ ‘Well, how do you like that!’ |
bween |
cutlass |
| Top | |
cab-e-a bird |
the biggest bird in Grenada |
caboosay or kabusy |
dented, bent up |
cabre or cabress |
light-skinned man or woman |
caca jay (caca yeux) |
same as yampee. Crusty stuff in the corner of your eye upon waking. |
callaloo or calaloo |
dasheen leaves (used like spinach), often used in soup; a thick soup made from dasheen leaves, ochroes, coconut milk seasoned to taste, invariably includes crab |
calypso |
a musical and lyrical comment on any subject, usually composed for, but not limited to, the Carnival season |
Calypsonian |
one who sings calypsos |
caraho |
an expression of annoyance, perhaps of Spanish origin |
catch you nenen |
catch you hell (suffer) |
catching me royal |
catching hell |
ceiba |
Silk-cotton-tree; Jumbie or Devil’s tree |
chabin |
fair-skinned |
chaining the clock |
winding the clock |
chandel kléwé |
light the candle (from a song: chandel, candle, and kléwé, to light |
chang-chang |
said to be reference to the sound made by a barber’s cheap scissors; ‘the barber chang-chang my head’ a very uneven trim or haircut |
channa cones |
channa is an Indian food, salted chick peas sold as a snack in little paper cones |
Chanti |
Chantimelle |
chapat |
a sandal shoe |
chappie |
cutlass |
charged |
full of liquor |
cheenky; chinkee |
tiny; very tiny portions of anything |
chennette |
small, hard-skinned tropical fruit which grows in bunches |
cheups (see steups) |
|
chigoe |
chigger; like a bête rouge, tiny insect |
chipping |
the sliding step done during Carnival while following a band |
choongsie |
a tiny piece |
‘Chou poule!’ |
‘To hell with that!’ |
chrisening |
baptism |
Christmas wind |
the strong winds that come in December and January |
chuck |
push |
chunks |
a little piece of food |
chupid |
stupid |
chupid-I; chupidee |
stupid person (i, he, she) |
chupidness |
stupidity |
cièl |
heavens |
close the pipe |
turn off the water |
coal-pot |
what most of the population cooked on. Looks like a Japanese hibachi |
coco tea |
any hot drink made of real cocoa with or without milk or sugar |
cocobay |
|
coki-eye |
cross-eyed |
colas |
tar used to play Jab Jab Mas |
come forward |
come back |
coming to come |
coming slowly |
commesse or comess |
confusion associated with arguments, gossip and slander; complete foul-up |
compè |
male crony |
compère |
godfather of my child |
con-crocket |
dried flying fish |
congoree |
millipede |
coolie |
racist term for Indian; an expression denoting someone of East Indian descent |
coraile |
bitter herb |
cotaysi cotayla |
and the story goes on (etcetera, etcetera) |
country-bookies |
country bumpkins |
cow |
breadfruit |
craft |
girl |
crapaud-face |
frog-face |
creature |
person –“Madam, that creature is here.” |
creole |
native-born |
cribo or creebo |
large black serpent; a large colorful serpent which lives preferentially in damp holes in the ground |
crix |
any brand of crackers |
crocus bag |
jute sack |
cu’n |
contraction for ‘cousin’ (pronounced cuh – n. Two syllables. The ‘n is a syllable a hard N. Sing song accent) |
cuff |
hitting someone or something with a clenched fist |
cunumoonu |
foolish person |
cupaye |
partner, friend (used in addressing one). Example: ‘A goin’ dun de rode cupaye (pronounced cuh – pie |
curry-favour |
to be supportive of one against the other |
cursing |
scolding |
cut skin (cut arse) |
to spank |
cutlass or cutliss |
machete; poor man’s pen |
cut-tail |