You know. You always crack me up with a single casual thought or phrase. I literally laughed at the thought of being caught stealing laundry from a neighbor’s line. That would be Cringe to say the least!!
There’s a Trinidad calypso about a man stealing his neighbour’s hen, and the neighbour got so fed up, he worked magic on the thief, now every time the thief opens his mouth to speak, he clucks like a fowl. Caribbean humour is wild.
We’ve had a few Guyanese movies from the 70s, I will hunt them down.
If we want take the word ‘aloo’ from the bottom shelf and elevate it, you haf to make it sound English-fied — say it with an American accent. So it would be pronounced ‘ah-lew’.
‘Bukta’ becomes ‘bukter’
‘Batty’ becomes ‘baddee’ (unfortunately this could be confused with ‘baddee’, a villain in a book or film. But then again, language is known to have homophones/homographs.
This sly conversion of creolese can have multiple positive effects for the overseas Guyanese.
1. They can continue to use their lexicon in their everyday lives seamlessly and without interruption.
Two overseas Guyanese are at a crowded gym, for example. They’re both using the treadmills. One of them hops off and says to the other “I’m gonna go work on my baddee right now. Catch you layder.”
2. They can fit in to the American culture and feel relatively few bumps and without being looked at strangely.
If Neena is at work, for instance, and she brings an ‘aloo-roti’ for lunch. Her co-worker Bob, sees her eating this and asks “Hey, Neena! What inneresting bread! Whasit called?”
Neena can respond between chews, “Why Bob, it’s called ah-lew rodee? Have you never had this?”
Suddenly, Bob feels like *he* is the gauche one for never having heard of ‘ah-lew rodee’.
3. The Guyanese living overseas can elevate their language and consequently themselves by doing this. By continuing to use their creolese with a twinge of an American accent, they can make any non-Guyanese person think “Yikes!! This is a word I don’t know. I really need to read more.”
Xoxo thanks for posting this. It was fun, fuh troot.
We suffer from “cringe” in Guyana. I’ve even spoken to people who brag about not speaking Creolese…I try to explain it’s just another form of communication, but they’ll have none of it.
I think I decoded each of the emoji!
You know. You always crack me up with a single casual thought or phrase. I literally laughed at the thought of being caught stealing laundry from a neighbor’s line. That would be Cringe to say the least!!
We need a Guyanese movie.
Well done, Jack, well done, I hope you had fun.🥳
There’s a Trinidad calypso about a man stealing his neighbour’s hen, and the neighbour got so fed up, he worked magic on the thief, now every time the thief opens his mouth to speak, he clucks like a fowl. Caribbean humour is wild.
We’ve had a few Guyanese movies from the 70s, I will hunt them down.
OMG ah on de floor - dedin’ wid laff.
Lesson 1 -Conversion of Creolese to American.
If we want take the word ‘aloo’ from the bottom shelf and elevate it, you haf to make it sound English-fied — say it with an American accent. So it would be pronounced ‘ah-lew’.
‘Bukta’ becomes ‘bukter’
‘Batty’ becomes ‘baddee’ (unfortunately this could be confused with ‘baddee’, a villain in a book or film. But then again, language is known to have homophones/homographs.
This sly conversion of creolese can have multiple positive effects for the overseas Guyanese.
1. They can continue to use their lexicon in their everyday lives seamlessly and without interruption.
Two overseas Guyanese are at a crowded gym, for example. They’re both using the treadmills. One of them hops off and says to the other “I’m gonna go work on my baddee right now. Catch you layder.”
2. They can fit in to the American culture and feel relatively few bumps and without being looked at strangely.
If Neena is at work, for instance, and she brings an ‘aloo-roti’ for lunch. Her co-worker Bob, sees her eating this and asks “Hey, Neena! What inneresting bread! Whasit called?”
Neena can respond between chews, “Why Bob, it’s called ah-lew rodee? Have you never had this?”
Suddenly, Bob feels like *he* is the gauche one for never having heard of ‘ah-lew rodee’.
3. The Guyanese living overseas can elevate their language and consequently themselves by doing this. By continuing to use their creolese with a twinge of an American accent, they can make any non-Guyanese person think “Yikes!! This is a word I don’t know. I really need to read more.”
Xoxo thanks for posting this. It was fun, fuh troot.
How me LAAAAFFFF.
Oh me mooma!!
Creolese in an American accent is something else. One time, I hear a laptop reading my stuff with a perfect American accent, was hilarious.
I seriously think you have to copy this comment, post it on your Substack with some sketches.
Do it, naaaah?
I love the way you use Creolese in your writing, Neena. It gives it such a lovely flavour.
Thank you, Meredith. ☺️
We suffer from “cringe” in Guyana. I’ve even spoken to people who brag about not speaking Creolese…I try to explain it’s just another form of communication, but they’ll have none of it.