Lesson 38 of 48 · Manchester
Greet elders and church people properly, slide up the register, and give blessings.
Quick recall from di family lesson: Maas, Miss, Aunty — yu have dem aready. Now di CHURCH-specific talk. Language in Jamaica lives on a slider (the continuum: deep Patois at one end, Standard English at the other), and church is where everybody slides UP. This lesson is about sounding RESPECTFUL: right words, right titles, right melody. Titles first: the pastor is Paasa — Maanin, Paasa, or more formally Good maanin, Paasa Brown; elders get Maas, Miss, Aunty, Uncle, or sah and ma'am: Evenin, Maas Percy, sah. Golden rule: greet FIRST — walking past an elder without a word is real rudeness. As the proverb says: Howdy an tanky no bruk no square (greetings and thanks cost nothing). Church vocabulary: chuch; service keep a ten o'clock (the service is held at ten); a sankey is an old hymn (from the Sankey hymnal), while a chorus is a lively short song; prayer meetin; grace (blessing before food): Maas Percy, beg yuh seh di grace fi wi. Blessings and partings, the warm currency of respect: God bless yuh, mi dear; Tank God; Walk good, yaa; Tell evrybody howdy fi mi. Example exchange: Maanin, Miss Ivy, hou yuh do? — Mi deh ya, tank God, mi son. Register control is the real skill: with the pastor and elders, pull toward the middle of the slider — Good maanin, Paasa, how yuh keeping? — while with your cousin outside after service you slide right back dung: Wah gwaan, cuz, di sankey dem did sweet eeh? Same speaker, same morning, two registers — that flexibility is prized, not fake. Common learner errors to recast: greeting an elder with wah gwaan — recast Maanin, Miss Ivy, hou yuh du?; bare first names for elders — always title plus name; kiss-teet or slang anywhere near church — serious disrespect; answering How yuh do? with a flat 'fine' — recast the cultural answer, Mi deh ya, tank God; and forgetting to send greetings home — always close with Tell evrybody howdy fi mi.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| Paasa | Paasa | Pastor (title of address) |
| chuch | choch | church |
| sankey | sangki | old hymn (from the Sankey hymnal) |
| chorus | kuoras | lively short worship song |
| prayer meetin | prieya miitn | midweek prayer meeting |
| seh di grace | se di gries | say the blessing before food |
| sah / ma'am | sa / maam | sir / ma'am (polite address) |
| howdy | houdi | hello (older, rural, respectful) |
| Mi deh ya, tank God | Mi de ya, tangk Gad | I'm fine, thank God |
| God bless yuh | Gad bles yu | God bless you |
| Walk good, yaa | Waak gud, yaa | goodbye, travel safely (warm) |
| Tell evrybody howdy fi mi | Tel evribadi houdi fi mi | greet everyone at home for me |
| Sunday clothes | Sonde kluoz | one's church best |
Church vocabulary, titles and the respect register are not in Chapter Four; the continuum framing the lesson leans on is credited to Lessons 7 and 42.
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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