Mostly Bajan Sayings Volume 2

 

 

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.

 

“Bones mekking whistle”

Meaning he long time dead

And you still breaking your heart

Rather than moving on instead.

 

“If yuh ain’t got horse

Ride cow.”

It’s better to use what’s available

And manage somehow.

 

“Follow pattern kill Cadogan”

And it could also kill you,

“Everything my monkey do

You do too.”

 

You time gine come

Yuh better hear wha I suh

Cause “wha ain’t pass yuh

Ain’t miss yuh.”

 

 

You got out of a hard spot

And went right back to it?

Why, “only a dog

Does return to ‘e vomit.”

 

“As yuh land

Yuh come ashore.”

You put on your new shirt

As soon as it come outta de store.

 

“Ya cud tek me outta Bim

But ya can’t tek Bim outta me.”

Don’t care where I go

Bajan is what you will see.

 

“White mout fowl does eat

And then wipe ‘e mout in the grass.”

What the ungrateful gets

Never seems to last.

 

“Don’t tek a six for a nine”,

“Gih you an inch, you wan’ tek an ‘L’”

Better be careful how far you go

I en got to buy wha you sell.

 

“Yuh got a plaster for every sore”

Yuh playin’ yuh bright,

Keep doin’ whuh yuh doing

And I gine show yuh de light.

 

“Little children shouldn’t play

Wid sharp-edged tools”,

If you think this mean a knife

You would have to be a fool.

 

“Lime juice nevah spoil vinegar”

In fact, you worse than me,

Compared with what you does do

I am rather saintly.

 

“Self-pity ain’t no pity”,

Let someone else pity you,

Such pitying would be far better

If it is another’s view.

 

 

Be careful with children!

“Small pigeon got wide earhole”,

And especially children of today

They can be quite bold.

 

“Water does run

But blood does clot”,

You may come between two friends

But family? You better not!

 

“Wha’ in de ol’ goat in de kiddy”,

“De berry don’t fall far from de tree”,

He fahduh before he was just like dat

So, he definitely like he daddy.

 

 

“Yuh socks want pulling up”

“Straighten up and fly right”

Or else yuh gine fine yuhself in a hole

Whey yuh gine ketch real fright.

 

Yuk look like yuh force ripe

And you is only ten,

Yuh better be very careful

Wid dem signals yuh does send.

 

Yuh got more tricks than a monkey

But dem tricks gine turn to bricks

And wha yuh tink is sugar

Gine really be grit.

 

Well these are far fewer

Than the first volume I wrote

But I trust that by now you know

That “fun en always sport”.

 

I tried not to repeat

Any from the volume 1 set

But yuh know I en perfect

So I won’t tek that bet.

 

If you find some more

You could send them to me,

Who knows? They might be enough

To compile volume three.

 

Stewart Russell © August 10, 2023