Should youngsters learn cursive handwriting in school? Plus, someone can be ruthless, but can that same person be ruthful? Which word refers to something larger, humongous or gargantuan? Also, funny newspaper corrections, a crossword quiz, Texas...
In Jamaica, the youngest child is commonly known as the wash-belly. In addition to being the youngest, the term can also connote that the wash-belly is lazy and spoiled. Frederic Cassidy traces this and other terms in his Dictionary of Jamaican...
browning n.— «Over the years of visiting Jamaica, I constantly heard the men referring to their favourite choice of girls as the ‘browning’ type. I have always wondered who originally came up with this term? During the early 1970s, while...
roast breadfruit n.— «If there is genuine pride in ethnic particularity, plain and simple, there can be no place for denouncing those who are not so vocal or even ambivalent about ethnic issues. Nor should we indulge or defend the...
DFD-er n.— «The trip to Rockaway Beach involves riding the A train over a different sort of New York landmark: Jamaica Bay. At the 116th Street stop is a busy area with delis and beach shops and, where 116th Street meets the ocean, an...
Germaican n.— «In 1876 this village was inhabited by 100 German immigrants who were promised free passage, land and persuaded to settle and develop the plantations. The hardship that followed left just a few remaining, and their...