D
D.J.: a person who sings or scats along with dub music, sometimes called
"toasting"
DAAL: split peas, usually a thick soup, from Indian cuisine, from Hindi.
DADA: father
DALLY: executive zig-zag movements on wheels or on foot to ride a bicycle
or motorbike with a weaving motion, as when ones weaves around potholes.
DAN DADA: the highest of DON'S
DAN: than
DARKERS: sunglasses
DASHEEN: a big soft yam-like root, often slightly greyish when cooked.
It is related to the coco, but one eats the "head" instead of the tubers.
DAWTA: a girl, woman, "sister," girlfriend
DEAD WOOD: (the w is silent) = A man that can't perform sexually. Impotent.
DEADERS: meat, meat by-products
DEESTANT: decent.
DEGE or DEGE-DEGE : adjective, little, skimpy, measly, only, as in
a two dege-dege banana.
DEH: there (place)
DEY: v. to be, exist, as in "No yam no dey". From Ewe de or Twi
de - to be
DEY 'PON : (aux. v.) - to be engaged in action or continuing activity
DI: the
DINKI: a kind of traditional dance at funerals or "nine nights" ("set-ups");
now popular among school children.
DIS or DIS YA: this
DJEW: as a verb, rain a djew; as a noun, djew rain. It means a light
rain or drizzle.
DOGHEART: a person who is especially cold and cruel
DOLLY: executive zig-zag movements on wheels
DON: one who is respected, master of a situation
DONKYA: from "don't care"; careless, sloppy, lacking ambition,
etc.
DOONDOOS: an albino.
DOWNPRESSOR: preferred term for oppressor
DOTI: earth
(TO) DRAW CARD: the act of fooling someone
DREAD: 1. a person with dreadlocks; 2. a serious idea or thing; 3.
a dangerous situation or person; 4. the "dreadful power of the holy"; 5.
experientially, "awesome, fearful confrontation of
a people with a primordial but historically denied racial selfhood"
DREADLOCKS: 1. hair that is neither combed nor cut; 2. a person with
dreadlocks
DREADY: a friendly term for a fellow dread
DUB: a roots electronic music, created by skillful, artistic re-engineering
of recorded tracks
DUCK-ANTS: white ants, or termites.
DUKUNU: sweet corn-meal dumplings boiled in wrapped leaves.
DUNDUS: an albino.
DUNGLE: n. legendary West Kingston slum surrounding a garbage dump,
now cleared. :From English dunghill
DUNS,DUNSA: money
DUPPY: a ghost
DUTCHY: dutch cooking pot, low round-bottomed heavy pot.
E
EASE-UP: to forgive, to lighten up
EVERYTING COOK & CURRY: all is well, all is taken care of
FALLA FASHIN: Copycat
FAS': to be fast with, meaning to be rude, impertinent, to meddle with
sombody's business, to be forward, etc.
FASSY: eczema-like scratchy sores on the skin; also a verb meaning
to cause oneself to be covered with fassy by scratching.
FAASTIE: impertinent, rude, impudent
FAYVA: to favour, resemble, or look like; "fayva like" also means "it
seems as if".
FE: the infinitive "to" as in "Have fe go": "a fe" Have to "fe
dem" their
FEEL NO WAY: don't take offense, don't be sorry, don't worry
FENKY-FENKY: (from finicky) choosy, proud, stuck-up.
FENNEH: v. to feel physical distress, pain. From Twi fene-to vomit;
Fante fena-to be troubled; Lumba feno-to faint
FI: possessive. "fi me"-"mine" Can also mean: "for" or "to", as in
"I ha' fi", I have to: Yu num fi du dat = You are not to do that.
FIESTY: impudent, rude, out of order, cheeky.
FIRST LIGHT: tomorrow
(HIM A) FISH: a gay person
FIT: when used of fruits and vegetables, it means ready to pick, full
grown, though not necessarily fully ripe. also means in good shape.
("You haffe fit!")
FORWARD: 1. to go, move on, set out 2. in the future
FRONTA: tobacco leaf used to roll herb
FUC-ERY: wrong, unfair
FULLNESS, TO THE FULLNESS : completely, absolutely, totally
FUNDS: Money
G
GAAN TO BED: an adverbial phrase; following a verb of liking or loving,
it has a superlative meaning; Can be used in any context, such as "I love
hafu yam gaan to bed!".
GALANG: go along.
GANJA: herb, marijuana
GANSEY: t-shirt, any knit shirt
(TO) GET SALT: to be thwarted, to encounter misfortune
GATES : home, yard
GENERAL: cool operator
GI: give
GIG: spinning top.
GINNAL: n. trickster, con-man, an Amnancy figure as in "Sunday Ginnal"-a
preacher or clergyman
GLAMITY: a woman's genitals
GORGON: outstanding dreadlocks
(DON) GORGON: outstanding dreadlocks, a person who is respected (2,6)
GRAVALICIOUS: greedy, avaricious.
GRINDSMAN: one who displays great prowess in bed
GROUNATION: large, island-wide meeting and celebration of Rastas
GROUND: home, yard
H
HACKLE: to hassle, bother, worry, trouble. As a noun, hackling.
HAFFI : to have to...
HAIL: a greeting
HARD: excellent, proficient, skillful, uncompromising
HARD EARS: stubborn, doesn't listen
HEETCH: itch. Many such words could be listed under H, as initial H
is added to scores of words at will.
HEAD MAN JANCRO: n. albino buzzard
HERB: marijuana
HIEZ-HAAD: ears-hard, thick skulled, stubborn, unwilling or unable
to hear.
HIEZ: ears.
HIGGLERS: higglers, who are primarly woman who buy and sell goods that
they have imported into the country. Some higglers, however, do not make
trips out of the country to buy goods, but sell the goods that others import.
The connection between higglers and dancehall culture is crucial as they
form one of the strongest international links between JA, North America,
and the Caribbean. HITEY-TITEY: upper class, high tone, "stoosh".
HOMELY: to be relaxed, comfortable, enjoying your home surrounding.
HOOD: penis.
HORTICAL (DON): respected, acclaimed
HOT-STEPPER: fugitive from jail or gun court
I
I-DREN: (n.)- male Rastafarian
I-MAN: I, me, mine
I-NEY: a greeting
I-REY: 1. a greeting 2. excellent, cool, highest
I-SHENCE: herb
I-TAL: vital, organic, natural, wholesome; refers to way of cooking
and way of life in colors, red, green and gold
I: replaces "me", "you", "my"; replaces the first syllable of seleted
words I and I, I&I: I, me, you and me, we Rastafari speech eliminates
you, me we, they, etc., as divisive and replaces same with communal I and
I. I and I embraces the congregation in unity with the Most I (high) in
an endless circle of inity (unity).
IEZ-HAAD: ears-hard, thick skulled, stubborn, unwilling or unable to
hear.
IEZ: ears.
ILIE: adj. literally, "highly", valuable, exalted, even sacred
IGNORANT: short-tempered, easy to vex, irate.
INNA DI MORROWS: tomorrow
INNA: In the
IRIE: A Greeting. excellent, cool, highest: adj. powerful and pleasing
ISES/IZES/ISIS: praises Praises to the almighty given by Rasta:
when calling on the name of Jah for strength and: assistance for achieving
progress in life.
ISMS and SKISMS: negative term denoting Babylon's classificatory systems
ITES: 1. the heights; 2. a greeting; 3. the color red great
J
JA, JAM-DOWN: Jamaica
JACKASS ROPE : homegrown tobacco, twisted into a rope.
JAH KNOW: Lord knows
JAH: God; possibly derived as a shortened form of Jahweh or Jehovah
Jah Ras Tafari, Haille Selassie, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, conquering
Lion of Judah; rastas revere Haile Selassie as the personification of the
Almighty
JAMDUNG: Jamaica, "Jam" to press down "dung" down. Ironic reference
to social and economic conditions of the masses
JAMMIN: to be having a good time, to be dancing calypso/soca
JANCRO: n. literally John Crow, buzzard
JANGA: shrimp, crayfish.
JELLY: a young coconut, full of jelly.
JON CONNU: n. (John Canoe). Bands of elaborately masked dancers appearing
around Christmas. They ressemble the ancestral dancers of West Africa,
but the ety. of the word is unclear.
JOOK: to pierce or stick, as with a thorn or a long pointed stick.
JUDGIN': adjective, everyday or ordinary clothes or shoes worn in the
yard or in the bush, as in "judgin' boot". Also as a verb, to judge, with
a similar meaning.
JUU: as a verb, rain a juu; as a noun, juu rain. It means a light rain
or drizzle.