Friday Again

Yowa yow!! Language and expressions are a heck of a thing aren't they. I'm certain that there are expressions that are unique to each culture and to each generation as well. When I was in high school many years ago the standard greeting was what I opened with. Shouts of yow could be heard right across the campus. When you leaving it was "mi ah go step zeen." When you heard a nother man tell ou that "Mi ah go work pon one project", though it conjures up thoughts of an diligent school worker slaving over an assignment nothing was further from that. In fact it meant that he was going to chat up some girl or the other. Women were likened to some animal namely a "chick" or a "beef". This evolved to them being inanimate object being referred to as a "ting". No not the soft drink we love so dearly in Jamaica. In my school days you knew exactly what a "batty man" was and it was not someone who looked at women's buttocks. Now a days they are referred to as chi chi man having been called "a mens" before that. See language evolving. I am still yet to figure out what is a "yush" but I'm sure at some point down the road Fyr will enlighten me :) . A girl's man has become "gallis" having been a "shotta" at one time until the term became exactly what it sounded like...someone who fired guns. My culture in my high school days was intolerant of alternate lifestyles (politically correct phrasing I think). I remember the unanswerable question "If you heard that they were beating battymen in Cross Roads what would you do?" Unanswerable because if you said you would go there, then it was assumed that you were going for your beating. If you said you would not go then you were afraid you would get your beating. See how boy pickney idle? I remember having a discussion with a young teenage girl at some meeting or the other and her response was "Bwoy, Scratchie, yuh a sample yuh nuh!" I pondered for days over what a sample meant to her. I eventually asked my son who advised that it was a good thing. It mean that I understood them, spoke their language (which I obviously didn't) and she could relate to me. Meaning I was an example. My son met his friend recently and he called out to him "Waddup dawg?" His friend responded "woof woof". I looked for a brief moment to see if Angry Dog was around but then I remembered that he goes "arf arf". Kami in her recent post spoke about the various fruits from the islands and the various names that each has in the different territories. I'm curious about the sayings in your country. Do you stay up to date with teenage talk? Anyways enough chat on senseless idle topics. Enjoy your weekends all.