Traditional Jamaican proverb · taught in St. Elizabeth
Waata muor dan flouwa.
There is more water than flour (so the dumplings can't be made).
Times are hard; resources are stretched too thin.
verbless comparison
Two nouns and more dan, with no verb; the point sits outside the words entirely, in the dumpling that cannot be made from that mix.
This one is taught in St. Elizabeth.
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 →