The Adventures of Ludiboy

Story glossary.

If you are a foreigner, you most likely picked out a handful of words that you did not quite understand. And somethings that the characters say that you wonder how that makes sense as it is not correct in English. Trust me, there is nothing wrong with what they are saying, and I worked tirelessly to make sure that i did not spoil the sentences. Then why do the sentences seem so wrong? That is because it's not English. It is PATOIS (pat'wah), a language of mostly African, mixed with English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and even German. This language came to be in the time of slavery in the Caribbean, where slaves were forced to quickly adapt to English or other European, foreign languages. They used words that they heard the Europeans say and implement them into their language, thus forming Patois, also known as Dialect or simply, Creole. In many Caribbean nations, it sounds different as those nations had different rulers, and different historical backgrounds.

So, before I go on to write a whole book on just Patois and its unfrequented history, here are both some words and proverbs in the book and in the language itself and their English translations:

a) Bad-eyes: Meaning an unpleasant, unfriendly look.

a2) Bad road: A road that is either poorly built or is in need of repair; damaged road

a3) Billy: A hole made in the ground, used for playing marbles and is the centre of the game.

a4) Boom-box: a loud and large party sound box

a5) Botheration: A Jamaican term for trouble, annoyance or anything that nags someone; trouble

a6) Bredda: Brother

a7)  Buck-up: Stumble upon; encounter

a8) Build a vybz: To create fun or excitement by doing something funny, amusing, or appreciated

a9) Bush: A farming area in a vegetative spot.

a10) Bredda Anansi: A mythological man-spider or just a spider that can talk and loves to play tricks on people; a very clever spider originating from African mythology and is strongly evident in countries like Jamaica, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

a11) Bredda Rolling Calf: A most popular demon in Jamaican mythology. It is said to be the reincarnation of a dead butcher that had been wicked or really nasty. It is described as having the foot of a man, a hoof of a horse, and the two hind legs of  a goat. It also carries a long metallic chain that announces its presence. Also, its eyes are blood-red, with flames of fire and can blow fire from its mouth and nose. It can also take the form of a cat or goat.

a11) Bwoi: A rustic, stressed termed for 'Boy'.

b) Cocoas: (Not that for the making of chocolate!) A starchy root in the ground that is eaten boiled and amy have a yellow colour.

b2) Common-law: The Jamaican term for people who call themselves 'husband' and 'wife', but were not married at all. It is referred to as 'common' because back then, many people were not married but did this act, hence its commonness.

b3) Corn: (Not referring to the starchy staple!) A large, tough bump that grows on the toe, normally the little one, because of recent, tight pressure-spacing

b4) Chalice: A kind of smoking pipe used by Rastafarians, made from coconut shells, with rubber pipes and a wooden top.

b5) Cho!: A term for annoyance or simply 'can't bother'

b6) 'Cratch-cocoa: Similar to the cocoa root, the 'Cratch-cocoa are a term used for the leaves of this root that have a tendency to release something on your skin, causing you to itch, hence 'cratch' from 'scratch'

b7) Crocus-bag: A large bag made from plastic straws that can carry a large amount of goods, used mainly by farmers carrying their loads of crops.

c) deggae-deggae: meaning a single thing or just as is said