Lesson 27 of 48 · Hanover
Say how you feel (bex, glad-bag bus') and describe personalities — including the famous false friends.
Patois rich cyaan done when i come to feelings. Fi vex: Mi bex! (I am angry). Wa mek yu so bex? Fi joy: Mi glad-bag bus! (my glad-bag burst — I am overjoyed). Di pickney dem a kin puppalick (turning somersaults for joy). Fi fear an shyness: Im fraid a duppy. Di likkle gyal dark (shy). Fraidi-fraidi people neva win notn (timid people never win anything). Fi shame: Mi shame so till mi couldn' talk. Now di personality word dem: boasie (proud, show-offy), facety (impudent, rude), haad-iez (stubborn — hard of ears), donkya (careless — don't-care), red-yai (envious), bad-mind (malicious), craven (greedy), sweet-mout (flattering), talawa (small but strong an fearless — mi likkle but mi talawa!). Body language chat too: shi cut har yai afta mi (cut her eyes at me — contempt), im kiss im teet (sucked his teeth — scorn; NEVA do i to an elder). Now di false friend dem — dis a weh learner dem drop off: (1) IGNORANT no mean fool — i mean quick-temper: No badda im, im ignorant (he flares up easily). (2) MISERABLE no mean sad — i mean fussy, hard fi please: Miss Icy miserable, notn no right fi har. (3) HUSH a no shut up — a sympathy i show: smadi drop dem ice cream, yu seh Hush, tek mine (there, there). (4) Yu too fas mean yu too NOSY, no too quick. An memba di deepes Jamaican medicine: tek bad tings mek laugh (turn troubles into laughter) — when life lick yu, yu laugh loudes. Tek kin-teet kibba heart bun, di proverb seh. Drill by acting out each feeling wid face an voice — Patois feelings live eena di melody.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| bex | beks | angry, vexed |
| glad-bag bus' | glad-bag bos | overjoyed |
| kin puppalick | kin popalik | turn somersaults (for joy) |
| fraid | fried | afraid |
| dark | daak | shy |
| shame | shiem | embarrassed |
| boasie | buosi | proud, show-off |
| facety | fiesti | impudent, rude |
| haad-iez | haad-iez | stubborn |
| donkya | dongkya | careless (don't-care) |
| red-yai | red-yai | envious |
| talawa | talawa | small but strong, fearless |
| ignorant | ignarant | quick-tempered (NOT stupid) |
| hush | hosh | there, there (sympathy — NOT be quiet) |
| miserable | miserable | fussy, hard fi please (false friend — not sad!) |
| fas | fas | nosy, meddling (yu too fas!) |
Emotion vocabulary, personality terms and the semantic false friends are lexical matters outside Chapter Four. The reduplicated forms the lesson uses (fraidi-fraidi, and fool-fool on p. 71) belong to the pattern he describes under Word Formation.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
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