4/13/2023 0 Comments Jamaican pidginWhen strolling the markets, pick up an exotic fruit or vegetable and ask “a wah dis?” (what is this?) or point to something and ask “a wah dat?” (what is that?). Picking up a few words will help you get by in the streets as you immerse yourself in our culture and endear yourself to the people you interact with. Patois is as Jamaican as our beaches, our sunshine, and our jerk chicken. Now patois has been formalized and is taught in linguistic programs at a handful of tertiary institutions. This is thanks in part to the rise in popularity of our reggae music with legends like Bob Marley and later Shaggy taking our music to all corners of the world. Today, speaking the language is a form of pride as it is easily recognized worldwide. For over 20 years, Miss Lou, as she was affectionately called, performed her poetry locally and internationally, helping to cement patois as an established and commonplace language of our nation. One such poet, the Honorable Louise Bennett-Coverly, used her popular radio show to help bring Patois across the airwaves to wider society. ![]() ![]() Poets and theater performers also embraced patois as their primary mode of communication. On the other end of the spectrum, reggae musicians used the language to express their identity, and songs filled with descriptions of poverty and political strife were mainstream at the time. ![]() In the 1960s, around the time Jamaicans were negotiating their independence from England, the local dialect was frowned upon by the upper classes as the language of the poor and uneducated folk.
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