Monday, November 10, 2008

Patois or Piglet

My local friend Piglet would often poke fun at when when I first got here, at my inability to speak Patois or understand Patois. Cayman has a significant Jamaican population, with many Jamaicans that are now status holders, so of course, Patois has been integrated into the everyday dialogue. Oh fine, whatever Piglet, I'd say. Not that I'd really care. Ironic considering some of the words that Piglet pronounces are hard to understand (not by me). Like with friends one evening, during conversation, she inadvertently kept saying scrimp. A couple of friends had a hard time figuring out what that word meant. I leaned back and watched because mere moments earlier Piglet had just completed making fun of me and my non Patois speaking abilities. After a few repeats, no one was getting anywhere so I stepped in and said: She means shrimp. I then looked over to Piglet and was all like: I may not understand Patois and don't need to yo, cause I understand Piglet! HA! It's a very popular inside joke among us now. So, care to take a guess as to how many times she has since even 'attempted' to lay the Patois joke on me?

2 comments:

Jdid said...

i know someone who says scrimps too lol

MS CUTE PANTS said...

I think it might be a Caymanian thing as opposed to just something my friend says. I was at the Georgetown Heritage Day yesterday and I heard the one of the 'cooks' say Scrimp.