Mostly Bajan Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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