goat’s mouth n.— Note: According to G. Llewellyn Watson’s Jamaican Sayings, “A person is said to have a goat’s mouth when he/she wishes another evil, and the wishes are fulfilled. It also applies to one who has the foresight...
browning n.— «Some students once met a radio personality and marvelled that she was a “browning.” This host speaks the real Jamaican patois and they thought she would be “jet black.” Why? Because brownings don’t...
butu n.— «Whichever of these two political parties form the next government, Jamaica would have lost because they have clearly demonstrated an unwillingness and inability to stop political violence. We, Jamaicans, will therefore continue...
nanny n.— «I remember the first time I saw a Jamaican $100 bill. It was at home in St. Thomas and an “uncle’ was visiting from the United States.…I do not know when the $100 became a “bills,” as it is commonly...
bills n.— «I remember the first time I saw a Jamaican $100 bill. It was at home in St. Thomas and an “uncle’ was visiting from the United States.…I do not know when the $100 became a “bills,” as it is commonly...
turn someone over v. phr.— «Too public, it seems. The Mail on Sunday, in Fleet Street parlance, turned him over. Treating him like an errant soap star over two pages, it sunk its fangs into the English divorcee, highlighting his glamorous...