Archive for Jamaican Greetings
Learning Jamaican Patois
I had two very interesting conversations this past weekend with two different individuals about Jamaican patois, a language that is often discussed on the island. One person, (a Jamaican) was explaining that many Jamaican children are not learning standard English because, many of them live in households where only patois is spoken and several more [...]
Jamaican words, expressions, and slang.
The Language: English (official), Creole. English is the official language of Jamaica. However, Patois (Creole), a combination of English and some African languages, is spoken in rural areas and is used increasingly in urban areas. Most Jamaicans can speak or understand Patois, but it is not a written language. Jamaican speech, even in English, has [...]
Jamaican Greetings
In spite of the aggressiveness and sometimes harsh nature of life in Jamaica, one of the sweet contradictions lies in how Jamaicans greet each other. Of course, there are the regular greetings of “Hello”, “How are you?” and “Good mawning.”Then there are the others… “Blessed.” has become a popular greeting that I have never heard [...]
