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Did you know that in the dialect of Jamaica, Trinidad, and other Caribbean lands, folks carry people and walk with things?

It is common to say, "I'm going to carry my wife out to dinner and walk with an umbrella in case of rain."

Posted - August 7, 2020

Responses


  • 16197
    The pies have different prices on each island, too. A slice of pie in Kingston is $2.20, in Port-of-Spain the same slice is $3.25, while in Nassau it's a whopping $5.50.
    These are the pie rates of the Caribbean.
      August 7, 2020 10:28 PM MDT
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  • 13251
    How is that relevant to the question?
      August 8, 2020 7:59 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    I find many Carribean accents difficult to understand  
      August 8, 2020 8:26 AM MDT
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  • 3680

    British English is like that too.

    It has very many regional accent and dialects, and these can be wonderful, from straightforwardly non-standard grammar to colourful phrases.

    "Where's it to?" (asking an object's location) - common in some parts of Southern England

    " ... then go through the obbly-eyed gate", said a farmer on whose land some friends and I had inadvertently trespassed when walking in the Gloucestershire countryside, directing us to the lane we wanted. We found an 'obbly-eyed' gate is one falling to bits - or is "going home" as more widely described.


    "That lass, she's right common!"
    "Aye, and her sister's no better than she should be!" - one does not like to enquire too deeply into the alleged misbehaviour of these Midland / Northern English sisters.

    'Aye' = 'yes', probably the Nordic ja, from the many Scandinavian settlers, language and all, after the Romans had left. 

    "It were a right good do, were that!" - Clearly, the cited Northern English, (particularly Yorkshire?) event had deserved this great approval. The 'i' in right seems to vary from a sort of aai to ee sound across only several tens of miles, too.   

    "Go through the twitchel past the church". To this day I do not know the regional origin of the word "twitchel" even though it was once used regularly in my family. It is a narrow footpath, typically bounded by woods or buildings, but apparently not an alley, close or ginnel. 


    "The Geate A-vallen' To" - ('Falling to', closing) - The poem by Dorset (S. England county) linguist and writer William Barnes, written in Dorset dialect and accent.

      August 24, 2020 6:07 PM MDT
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