browning n.— «The assumptions are that beauty is not obviously black; although, in the context of Jamaica, and perhaps the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, it is not overtly Caucasian and aquiline. Something in between translates...
interdesperse v.— «Jamaicans speak English, but it’s so interdespersed with slang and colloquialisms that it often hard to decipher.» —“Regiment’s school project is a class act” by Johnny Caldwell in...
wash-belly n.— «Hyacinth “Iya” Archibald’s world was uplifted, when on September 25, 1978, her last child (in Jamaican patois called “wash-belly”) Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner was born.» —“Boy wonder...
grey-back n.— «This wasn’t some callow youth adjusting to the exigencies of cruel Fate that saw a father die before his time and mother grappling, appropriately or inappropriately, with that loss; he was an adult—“grey-back,” in our...
squidel n.— «He often called her degrading names in front of the children. Names like “squidel,” which she says is another word for prostitute.» —“Convention forces Jamaican Government’s hand: More shelters for abused...
dibby-dibby adj.— «One can go from there and decide if a woman is a dibby-dibby, mud-up or a dutty bungle.» —“Profile of a Jamaican dejay” by Eron Henry The Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) Nov. 16, 1988...