A guide to Jamaican rasta and patois speak vol. 11
Posted by emperorbananaketchup on March 6, 2008
It is videos like this taken by a tourist at Negril Beach which capture the true vibe of Jamaican folk music…that from which genres like ska, reggae and even dub to spring from.
Much respect and thanks for sticking with me all the way through…
W
WA: What?
WA DAY: The other day.
WA MEK?: why?
WAAN: Want or need
WAKL: wattle, a kind of woven bamboo work used to make house walls.
WANGA-GUT: hungry-belly.
WA’PPUN/WH’APPEN?: What’s happening? This is the most popular greeting used. Always say this instead of the American, “What’s up.”
WARRA-WARRA: politely omitted bad words, See TARRA-WARRA
WEAR: To wear; it is worn, worn, wears. Batty ridas still a wear by di gal dem. (Short shorts are still worn by the girls.)
WEH: Where; past tense of was; present tense of is; that is.
WENCHMAN: a kind of fish, “Hail Brother John, have you any wenchman?” (from “Row Fisherman Row”).
WHAFEDOO: we’ll have to (make) do or we’ll have to deal with it
WHATLEF: What’s left over
WHEELS: vehicle. See TRANSPORT
WHOLE HEAP: a lot
WI: We, us, our, ours. “Naa touch wi tings” (Don’t touch our things). “Yu a come wit wi?” (Are you coming with us?)
WICKED/WIKKID: Slang for bad or evil. Dat wicked, nuh? (That’s cool, huh?)
WINE: “wine” appears in every West Indian dialect, and is literally a corruption of “wind.” It means to dance, sometimes seductively.
WINJY: thin and sickly looking.
WIS: liana vines. From “withe”.
WIT: With.
WOLF: a non-rasta deadlocks. From Eng. saying “A wolf in sheep’s clothing”
WOOD: penis. See HOOD, HOSE, BUDDY
WORK: Slang for sex.
WRAP UP: Slang for kidding or joking. “Mi naa wrap up” (I am not joking.)
WUTLESS: Lit. worthless. When used in conjunction with a man it means one who is lousy in bed. “‘Im a wutless bwoy” (He is impotent)
X
X AMOUNT – Countless; many. Mi get x amount a lovin. (I receive plenty of love/sex.)
Y
YA: hear, or here. Can also mean “yes”
YA NUH SEE IT? – Slang for, you know?
YAAD/YARD: Yard, place of residence, house, home. “Tek mi a mi yaad” (Take me home.) “Mi baan a Jamaican Yardi” (I was born a Jamaican.)
YABBA: a big clay pot.
YAGA YAGA: Dancehall slang. a way to BIG UP a BREDREN; to express a greeting or attract attention, i.e. yo! or YUSH! true friend; bonafide; BREDREN.
YAHSO: here (place)
YAI/YEYE: eye.
YEYEWATA: To shed tears, cry.
YOUTH/YUUT/YUTE: a child, a young man, an immature man
YUSH: Yush talk is bad boy talk. Or it can be a way of saying “YO”. In other words it is a way for rude boys to hail each other up.
We conclude this then with a trip to Zion…Iron Lion Zion, that is, courtesy of HRH Robert Nesta Marley.
Z
ZED: The letter Z. From British English. “Fram A to Zed” (From A to Z)
ZEEN: Understand, you know, you see, okay, yeah… “Zuke a mi lass name, it a begin wit zed, zeen” (Zuke is my last name, it begins with the letter z, you see). Zeen is popularly used to either signal a question or agree with a statement.
ZION: Ethiopia, Africa, the Rastafarian holy land
ZUNGU PAN: zinc pan.
ZUTOPONG: A low class person: also “zutopeck”. From pre-Columbian Aztec “Zapotec” tribe
PROVERB OF THE DAY:
No call alligator long mouth till you pass him.
Source: (Jamaican)
taken from World of Quotes: http://www.worldofquotes.com/proverb/Jamaican/1
Concordances: Mike Pawka
http://niceup.com/patois.txt
http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF97/malyce/dict.htm
http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF97/malyce/phrases.htm
http://www.earthcultureroots.com/index.html
http://www.speakjamaican.com/glossary.html
Language and usage
Odilia said
A Quest for the Heart of the Rastafari is a conference on Rasta culture, history and identity to take place in Jamaica from March 7th to 13th in 2009.
Presenters include:
“Origin and Emergence of Rastafari,”
“Rastafari and Other World Views Santería and Vodon”
Professor Barry Chevannes is a graduate of Boston College,
the University of the West Indies and received his doctorate
from Columbia University. His thesis at CU was on the Rastafari movement in Jamaica. And he is recognized as one of the leading scholars on Rastafari culture. He has written many books and is a distinguished professor of social anthropology at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He is also the current Chairman of the Institute of Jamaica, a
cultural institution devoted to science, literature and art
that also awards national honors.
“Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica’s Gift to the World”
Yasus Afari is one of Jamaica’s top dub poets, a musician and he is also an author. Afari has collaborated with record producer Garnet Silk, as well as other dub poets and singers: Maxi Priest, Everton Lender, General Degree and Tony Rebel. Afar has performed throughout Europe, the US and
the Caribbean.
Yasus Afari’s book:
Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica’s Gift to the World.
“From Makeda to Makeda: The Rastafari Empress Ethiopian Heritage”
Barbara Blake Hannah is multitalented; she is an author,
music journalist, filmmaker and public speaker with her own
production company, Jamaica Media Productions. It should
also be mentioned that in 1968, she became the first Black
British TV presenter on Thames-TV’s daily evening show,
Today with Eamonn Andrews. Ms. Hannah is one of
Jamaica’s most respected cultural historians and
received an award from the Ethiopian royal family. Her
latest film, The Road through the Blue Mountains, is a
spiritual journey through the most beautiful natural locales
of Jamaica. Hannah’s The New Creation is the first book
about Rastafari written by a practicing member of the faith;
Josephe: A Rasta Reggae Fable is a novel inspired by the
life of Bob Marley.
Barbara Blake Hannah’s books:
The New Creation
Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Fable
Films:
The Road through the Blue Mountains 2007
Joseph: A Rasta Reggae Movie 2007
Race, Rhetoric, Rastafari 1982
The conference is co-sponspored with the Rastafari
Indigenous Village
To register for the conference or if you have any further
questions, please take a look at our website
http://www.opencenter.org/jamaica.
You may also call the registration department staff at The New York Open Center at 212 219 2527