Dear Editor,
Most times whenever I address a topic that deals with less serious and everyday troubling issues, some folks upon meeting me would share with me their objections, schooling me on the need to avoid the trivial and stick to those matters causing us much affliction that seem never ending. But in as much as I am aware that we have a multiplicity of unpleasantnesses which can overwhelm us, I still think that we need, as they say in basketball ‘time out,’ so we can recharge. If we don’t we will find ourselves drained and worn out – ‘Too much of one thing is good for nothing.’ And is it not written that there is a time for everything under the sun? So while I can understand the folks who are hurting in many and different ways, and need to see priority being given to those situations, I find it hard to constantly bypass the many light-hearted, funny and amusing things that happen around us every day and can make us forget everything. And isn’t that good?
Come on, who are we to endure the constant vagaries and vicissitudes of this life without ease; God knows we need a break to lighten up for our own sake. And with Christmas upon us, bad as things may be, many of us will still make an effort to make the best we can of the season and not let any devil or evil forces hold us down. My father’s favourite phrase whenever he wanted an ease from the pressures of the demands and complaints that were flooding him, was “Look, Satan easy, leh meh hear whey the breeze blowing from.” And this, initially is what I’d wanted to talk about” our sharp-cutting ‘craz’ dialect with its beautifully colourful and lively expressions which we coined and which we apply daily to paint a picture of our plight, a good or bad thing or to relate a story.
Like the young man who was amused by the instant eagerness of his sister not to be left out of any activity, said, “One thing with you, since yuh see praanh, yuh ready.” Now I’ve written this word ‘praanh’ a number of times to see if it looked the way it sounded, and that’s the puzzling thing about the spelling of these creole words – different spelling same sound. And also this creole expression is similar in meaning to ‘Not every tin cup yuh hear nack yuh gat to run and guh.’
Then there is this popular one we hear so often but which sums up the situation well: ‘Since yuh mek two turn round de lil money done,’ or ‘de day done.’ But the strangest I heard in a long time was from the woman in Coomaka mines who said to me, “George Potato days gaan lang.” But the one for me that is quick and to the point is, ‘Done the dance,’ bringing closure to a good or bad situation, which is the same as ‘Sam shut up.’ Once in a while I would hear ‘All gone lake,’ which as I understand it means it’s over, finished with. Indulgence in these frivolities, these simple, little things once in a while does no harm, but rather can be a form of stress therapy.
As the late great Sam Cooke sang, “Little things mean a lot.”
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
