Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Mostly Bajan Sayings



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There are some Bajan sayings
That we use each and every day
We have come to associate them
With the Bajan way

Some are peculiar to Barbadians
Some to the wider Caribbean
Some, unless I miss my guess
May be from the world scene

Quid pro quo I know for sure
Is on the American scene
But we have a version in Barbados
As far as I have gleaned

Scratch my back
And I will scratch yours
I am sure you have heard that
Many times before

It is like do me a favor now
And I will do you one later
Things real tight and brown
So help me till some time after

I can’t ask my neighbour
Because we don’t see eye to eye
Once it happened through a keyhole
And I almost died

Cat luck en dog luck
Take this to heart
What work for one may not work for another
Therefore be smart

Hard ears you won’t hear
Own way you will feel
Sounds like a mother’s advice
To a son who likes to steal

Cockroach en have no business
At a fowl fight
So stay out of people’s quarrels
Whether they are wrong or right

You don’t have any patience
And getting on like a fool
You need to understand
If greedy wait hot will cool

Some people behave badly
And like having their own way
But their time will come
‘Cause evuh pig got a Saturday

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You think I am foolish
And you tek a six fuh a nine
But you had better understand
I am just biding my time

Every time you do foolishness
You find excuses galore
You want me to believe
You got a plaster for evuh sore

You like you tekking me for a fool
But I know what I am doing
And besides every fool got he own sense
So you could stop booing

You are flapping your mouth
Like you don’t care who hears
But evuh bush is a man
You had better beware

The devil does find work
For idle hands to do
 And if you don’t get busy
You’ll be in trouble too

She doesn’t ever worry
When she is in need
God don’t come but He sends
Is her never-failing creed

Get the yard fire bright
Does not mean set the yard on fire
But rather, make it extremely tidy
This is to the yard boy on hire.
  
Wha en ketch yuh en pass yuh
So don’t feel too smug
You might still be in for an attack
From the flu bug

One should always be careful
And from foolishness refrain
Always remember this good advice
Trouble does nevuh set up like rain

Yuh can hide and buy land
But yuh can’t hide and wuk it
Out in the open, sooner or later
Will come out every secret

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There is more in the mortar
Than the pestle
You might be taking on more
Than you can handle

A caution to teenage boys
Who are playing they are bold
Remember two smart rats
Can’t live in the same hole

To make her a treasurer
Is to put mongoose to watch chickens
Everybody knows
That not enough money is her problem

Beware when things come too easy
‘Cause cheap things nuh good
If you could do better
I think maybe you should

Some people don’t realize
Head en mek fuh wearing hat alone
They are so silly
That they reason like a roan

They want to be here as well as there
Like in de church and the chapel too
Don’t get me wrong
I do not mean you

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Some people drinking milk
But they en prepare to buy cow
And given their age
They should be married by now

Who help you buy a big guts mule
Don’t help you feed it
Getting someone in trouble and leaving them
Is a regular Bajan habit

Whoever got clothes heng out
Does look for rain
And even what don’t apply to them
Causes them pain

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If yuh en got horse ride cow
Make out with what is available
Don’t refuse to help yourself
Like lazy people

It don’t tek a big axe
To cut down a big tree
Size or lack of it
Does not limit capabilities

High wind know where old house live
Advantage is taken of those that are weak
So you had better be careful
If you have that streak

One-smart dead at two-smart door
There is always somebody smarter than you
When you realize I am that body
You will have to change your view

De more yuh peep de less yuh see
You would never be smarter than me
I will always be ahead of you
That is how it will always be

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Don’t wait till de horse get out de stable
To shut de door
It is better to take appropriate action
Some time before

This is definitely true
De berry don’t drop far from de tree
Some of the characteristics of my parents
Are also found in me

Head en brain
Not everybody is wise
Next time you see a head
It might be a fool in disguise

I have spent enough time on this
Though tekking yuh time en laziness
However, I think it is full time
That I stop and take a rest

There are many more Bajan sayings
But I will end with this one
Don’t think a man is a fool
Because he fishing in a dry pond

Stewart Russell © November 2019


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