Jamaican humour in Patois conversation

Jamaican humour in everyday conversation is mostly verbal and social: friends tease each other (ramp), exaggerate wildly, trade quick comebacks, drop a proverb at the right moment, and use nicknames. Tone does most of the work: the same words can be a joke or an insult depending on how they're said. This guide explains each feature with examples from the Patois Pal app's stories, and where a learner should and shouldn't join in.

Dialogue 1: The taxi driver's joke

Adapted from Route to Negril, a Story Mode scenario in the app. Bigga drives a route taxi and talks the whole way.

Two features in a few lines: the mock "special price" for the visitor, taken back straight away, and the comic understatement of "a little bit far" for a three-hour drive, followed by an exaggerated boast.

Dialogue 2: Laughing with the crew

Adapted from Meeting Di Crew. Toni-Ann has just told the table an embarrassing story about her best friend, Shanice.

The story's feedback makes the point: you're laughing with the group, not at anyone. Being able to take a joke is itself one of Toni-Ann's tests, and her hint about the empty glasses is teasing too: a request dressed up as a question.

Key features and phrases

Teasing

• Ramp — to play or joke around. Mi jus a ramp wid yuh = "I'm just messing with you". The same word turns serious in Nuh ramp wid mi feelings.
• Yuh gi mi joke — "you're so funny / you crack me up". Telling someone they give joke is a real compliment.
• Trash talk is expected in games. In Dominoes Night Wid Di Cousins, Cousin Andre greets you with Tonight yuh a guh get a proper beating! and mocks you with School dismiss early?! The right response is a confident comeback, not offence. See hanging out with friends.
• Affectionate digs from elders. An aunty's Yuh too maga! ("you're too skinny!", headword mawga) is care disguised as criticism. It isn't a licence for a newcomer to comment on anyone's body.

Exaggeration and understatement

• Bad as an intensifier: di food smell good bad, mi can ball bad. Everyday speech runs at high volume.
• Comic understatement: It likkle bit far for hours on the road; soon come for an arrival that may take all afternoon. People joke about these phrases themselves.
• Vivid comparisons: Aunty's grandchildren are a run up an dung like dem mad. Picture-making is part of the humour.

Storytelling and labrish

A lot of humour lives in retelling: someone's mishap, told dramatically to a laughing table, as Toni-Ann does. Labrish (chat, gossip) and su-su (whispered gossip) are the raw material. There's a strong tradition of this kind of humour in Jamaican performance and writing too, notably the poet and folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley ("Miss Lou"), who championed Patois as a language for art.

Proverbs

Proverbs are often funny because of their images, and dropping one at the right moment is a kind of wit. A few widely known ones:

• Every mickle mek a muckle — every little bit adds up. In the app's Pay Day Runnings story, quoting it earns you Mas Desmond's approval.
• One one coco full basket — literally "one coco at a time fills the basket"; progress comes little by little.
• Duppy know who fi frighten — "a ghost knows who to scare": bullies pick on people who seem weak. (Duppy = ghost.)
• Tek kin teet kibba heart bun — "use a grin to cover heartburn": hiding pain behind a smile. Skin teet means to grin; kibba means to cover.
• Wah sweet nanny goat a go run him belly — "what tastes sweet to the goat will upset its stomach": today's pleasure can become tomorrow's trouble.

More, with literal and real meanings, in Jamaican proverbs.

Nicknames

Nicknames are common in Jamaica, given by family or friends and sometimes used so widely that people barely know the person's real name. The taxi driver in the app goes by Bigga. Nicknames often come from a habit, an incident, a place or a physical trait, and some can sound blunt to outsiders. They belong to the people who share that history: don't invent one for someone you've just met.

Tracing

Tracing (verb: trace) is a loud, public quarrel, two people trading insults, often with inventive language and sometimes in front of an audience. Bystanders may find the wordplay entertaining, and tracing turns up in jokes and comedy, but the people doing it are usually genuinely angry, and it often involves strong language. Understand it when you hear it; don't start or join one.

Tone does the work

• Gweh! — "go away!" Laughing, it means "get out of here, you're joking!"; sharp, it means exactly what it says.
• Yuh too facety! — "you're so cheeky!" Can be fond or a real rebuke.
• Cho!, Rahtid!, Bwoy! — mild exclamations that colour a story.
• Kiss teet — sucking your teeth. Comic among friends, rude to elders.

Usage and etiquette for learners

• Laugh first, tease later. Join the laughter before you join the teasing. Once you're part of the group, light teasing back shows you belong.
• Tease about the game, the moment or yourself. Avoid jokes about someone's skin colour, body, class, money or family. Those are the areas where an outsider's joke lands worst.
• Don't do an accent. Putting on an exaggerated "Jamaican voice" for laughs comes across as mockery, not humour. Speak the Patois you've learned in your normal voice; see speaking Patois naturally.
• Don't use cuss words for comic effect until you know exactly how strong they are. Jamaican curse words explained sets out the scale.
• If a joke misfires, say so quickly: Mi jus a ramp wid yuh, mi sorry.

Try it

1. A friend tells a story that has the whole table laughing. What do you say to tell them they're funny?
2. You teased someone and they look hurt. How do you say you were only joking?
3. A friend is saving up slowly and feeling discouraged. Which proverb fits?

Questions people ask