Ya Know Ya is a Bajan When – Jokes
You ‘tink you is a real Bajan?
Whether you’re a Bajan or simply a Bajan at heart, you’ll recognize and appreciate the unique flavor of the Bajan dialect. Think you’re a real Bajan? Read on to find out.
A funny email continues to circulate to fellow Barbadians all across the globe with famous Bajan sayings, and we have some of them right here on this page.
Totally Barbados would love to credit the authors for their beautiful collection, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to source the person/persons who took the time to pull this definitive list together. So, to whoever contributed to the list below, we thank you! We’ve also added a few of our homegrown favorites for you to enjoy.
Ya know ya is a Bajan when
— You refer to a national/public holiday as a bank holiduh or a ‘bank.’
— You know to ‘curse’ someone doesn’t mean putting a spell on them
— Ya does move ‘scruffy.’
— ‘Cheese on bread’ ain’t got nuttin’ to do wid being hungry
— Ya does use words like fowl, cock, rock stone and a ram goat
— Every childhood game can be played for ‘licks.’
— Soup is water, Nuff dumplings, potatoes, yams, eddoes and any other ground provision ya could find
— You consider any hot beverage to be ‘tea’ – cocoa tea, coffee tea, tea tea, green tea
— You finish your sentences wid de word ‘dennnnnn’
— You call an avocado a ‘pear.’
— You take sick people to the ‘horse-pit-al.’
— You say ‘dat eaaaaasy’ instead of ‘no problems’
— You have a terrible fall and ya either ‘lick up’ or ‘breck up.’
— You play football on the ‘parse-ture’
— ‘Horning’ has no association with jazz music
— You wonder why people are always ‘playin’ de fool,’ doing ‘bare foolishness’ or ‘sky larking.’
— Anything in the distance is ‘yonder.’
— De cardinal points are eass, wess, norf, and sowf
— Yuh always explaining dat de dolphin you does eat is not ‘Flipper’!
— A ‘cutter’ is not a sharp utensil
— You call a machete a ‘cutlass’
— A ‘snakebite’ meks you drunk or tipsy – depending pun how much
bites yuh have!
— Yuh just cyant guh town an’ ‘doan see someone yuh know
— When people see ya up pun de road they ask ya if ya still living
— Yuh call everyone either ‘boss man,’ ‘boyyyyyy,’
‘partner’ or ‘skipper’ (or variations of these)
— You wouldn’t dream of going out anywhere at the slightest sign of ‘rain falling.’
— Yuh call a man a ‘Johnny’ and de man name Kevin
— You know de ‘Banks’ is not only good for keeping ya money
— In moments of disbelief, yuh does say either ‘Waaaaait?!’ or ‘fuh chu?!’
— Making ‘sport’ hardly ever has anything do wid sports
— If ya say ya ‘did de dawg,’ it has nothing to do wid a canine
— You understand the phrase ‘don’t off-set me!’
— You distinguish between publicly and privately-owned transport by ‘bus’ and ‘van.’
– You can ‘go up to St Lucy’ and ‘go down St Lucy’ without changing direction
— Words like ‘hard’ and ‘bad’ have too many meanings to count
— You speak of ‘the van stand’ and everyone knows what you’re talking about, even though there are three of them!
— Yuh know dat a ‘hard wine’ ain got Nuttin tuh do wid liquor
— Hell is both de worse and the best place ever – you could look good as hell, dem fishcakes could be oily as hell, that garbage could smell stink as hell …
— You know the license plates of all public transport, and you’re on a first-name basis with all de drivers
— Yuh does live 5 minutes from de beach and does get a sea bath five times a year if you’re lucky!
— Yuh don’t have to be an athlete to know ’bout de ‘runnings.’
— Yuh know dat liming ain’t got nuttin’ to do with de orchard
— You tell the host “good night” when you first arrive at someone’s home in the evening
— When someone sympathizes with you, you comment ‘Yuh tink it easy?’
— You suck all the marrow from the chicken bone and chew the ice when you finish your drink
— You have to have black cake at Christmas
— You give directions like this: bubble up the street, wiggle ‘tru and go so. Make a right at the mango tree. Go straight straight straight till you get to 3 rude boys liming on the block. You’ll see an Esso – don’t turn there, make a left. You will see a greenhouse. That not it, go straight. It’s the blue house in front of the two dunk trees.
By: Brett Callaghan
