20 Bajan Words That Will Make Your Trip to Barbados More Fun!
May 14, 2008 – 10:48 pmThe beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados is an English speaking country, which like many other countries has its own slang. Bajan slang can be a wee bit difficult to understand and as a fairly regular traveller to Barbados, I have been confused on many occasions when talking to locals that use a lot of slang.
I have put together a list of Bajan slang that I know will be of benefit to any tourists or business people that are travelling to Barbados.
Bashment!- Cool
a Bajan- a Barbadian, i.e someone from Barbados
Baje- a shortened form of “Bajan”
Cha!- an interjection meaning a variety of things from surprise to delight e.g: Cha, dat fella look so good! Cha, in hey hot as hell! Cha, you hear dat new tune!
Don’t watch na face - don’t worry about it
Don’t watch nain- don’t worry about
to flam with s.o: to flirt with someone
to be fagged out- to be very tired
Gipsy- too inquisitive about everyone’s business e.g. cha, you so gipsy
Hard- to describe just about anything good
Lickorish- greedy when it comes to food
To be mekking sport- to be kidding, joking e.g You mekking bare sport!
nuttin/nain - nothing
Pooch - used to refer to one’s buttocks
To be a pooch licker- to be someone who sucks up to people
To reason that - to think/decide that
Safe - Meaning “that’s cool with me”.
Scotch- In Bajan slang the word “scotch” is used when you want someone to move around so you could get a seat. For example, you may hear “Geh me a scotch dey so” (used like this it is considered rather impolite). The more polite form would be “May I have a scotch please?”Other examples are “You want a scotch?”, “Try’an scotch’on dey so”
To run a lot ah mout - to talk big
Whaloss! - normally means “oh my goodness”.
For anybody that is heading to my home city Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland I have recently read an article which will immensely help you with the local language and can be for at the traverlersstories blog For Those Heading to the Granite City This Summer, Learn The Language!
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