Traditional Jamaican proverb · taught in St. Thomas
Kos-kos neva buor huol ina yu skin.
Quarrelling never bores a hole in your skin.
Hard words can't wound you the way a blow can — let them pass.
single-clause indicative, metaphor
The doubled word is the subject and neva does the arguing. Skin stands for the whole body without any body word in the line.
This one is taught in St. Thomas.
Cassidy gives this proverb — 'Cuss-cuss neber bore hole in a you 'kin' — and adds that hearing it as cursing is folk etymology: the word is kas-kas, quarrelling, from Twi kasakasa, to dispute.
The grammatical categories this description uses — clause type, mood, and the sound patterning noted where it carries the proverb — follow Unseth's framework for describing a proverb rather than only translating it.
The proverb is folk material. The description of how it is put together follows the framework in the work above; the translation and the commentary are mine.
Hear it, and collect the rest →