Tweet
In 2003 while I was in Nicaragua in an area called Bluefields which has high population of Jamaican descendants, I was standing on a corner near to some men and this woman walked past and I heard one man asked "hey who dat gyal deh," and the tone of his query was definitely admiration
Except for the patois I did not make a big deal out of it, later i went to a church service and the pastor spoke the same way as the men on the street side and even asked "dat gyal over there" to do some thing or the other...all of us in the Jamaican delectation were shocked.
After asking some questions later we realised that this was how they talked, a woman is a gyal and a man can be a bwoy; they also used the term 'fenkeh, fenkeh', something I have only heard very old people use and not often either
This could be cultural as the Liverpool footballer claimed in his defense but I am glad none of them referred to any of the ladies in our delegation that way or some feathers would certainly be ruffled but we all had a good laugh about it after we realised what was going on.
Except for the patois I did not make a big deal out of it, later i went to a church service and the pastor spoke the same way as the men on the street side and even asked "dat gyal over there" to do some thing or the other...all of us in the Jamaican delectation were shocked.
After asking some questions later we realised that this was how they talked, a woman is a gyal and a man can be a bwoy; they also used the term 'fenkeh, fenkeh', something I have only heard very old people use and not often either
This could be cultural as the Liverpool footballer claimed in his defense but I am glad none of them referred to any of the ladies in our delegation that way or some feathers would certainly be ruffled but we all had a good laugh about it after we realised what was going on.
Comment