My dear friend Jennifer Armond got this email and sent it to me and I laughed so hard, not just at the content, but because it was so true. Jamaicans are the only people I know that will double up a word for emphasis. Please enjoy!

Some words appear not to be English at all and perhaps may have been passed down to us by our African ancestors. Consider the following examples:

· Batta batta : to survive or merely get by e.g. “How yuh stay Mass Ralston?” “Boy Lenny mi jus deh yah a batta batta inna di recession.”

· Bumpy bumpy : covered in bumps e.g. “Gweh! Yuh face bumpy bumpy like Jackfruit!”

· Cabba cabba : uncivilised people e.g. “Is wen Parliament get so full a cabba cabba ?”

· Chacka chacka : untidy, disorganised e.g. “What a way de whole a di tings dem jus all ova di place an mek di room look chacka chacka.

· Cyass cyass : a noisy quarrel or controversy (See ray ray ) Studies have shown that the persons most likely to be involved in cyass cyass are fool fool, cabba cabba who enjoy the mix-up mix-up and ray ray

· Deady deady: unexciting, boring e.g. Mi fren Jay no like di deady deady church service dem.

· Degeh degeh: single, lone, by itself e.g. Launa share out di whole a di “Chocolate” dem an leave only one degeh degeh one inna di pan.

· Dibby dibby: not worthy of respect e.g. A dibby dibby girl is best avoided. A dibby dibby, licky licky girl should be shunned like the plaque.

· Dooguh dooguh: Sexual intercourse (today’s daggering)

· Fenkeh fenkeh : second rate, lacking vim, vigour and vitality (see also pyah pyah )

· Fool fool : More than ordinarily foolish

· Good good : Pristine, high quality e.g. “Bwoy is mi good good scarf yuh tek a shine shoes?” or Imagine dis fool fool bwoy want fi talk up talk up to pastor good good dawta.

· Gwaany gwaany : to be boastful, a show-off

· Henka henka : (hanker) to pine for/ long for, lie in wait. The O-Lint money gawn. It no mek sense yuh a henka henka afta it. Or Jackie jus a hide hide roun di corna an a henka henka fi wen di pot come off a di fire.

· Juck juck : stick/pierce several times

· Labba labba : to speak or talk excessively (also known as chatty chatty)

· Lay lay : to waste time , to procrastinate e.g. Instead of working yuh deh yah a lay lay pon phone an internet.

· Licky licky : greedy e.g. Licky licky people always meet tragic end. or Is Licky licky him did licky licky why Kenneth go eat off the young ackee dem an go dead.

· Meckeh meckeh : thick in texture or consistency

· Nuff nuff: large or plentiful in number e.g. Yow yuh ting seh dis recession is a play play ting? Is nuff nuff people lose dem work since Government cut public sector jobs.

· One one: singly, one by one e.g. Every day di bwoy jus a pick off di mango dem one one off a di tree like a seh a im plant it.

· Play play : not serious or meaningful in nature e.g. “Junior, Madge tyaad a di play play relationship. Why yuh cant get married?

· Pyah pyah : second rate or inferior quality (see fenkeh fenkeh)

· Ray ray : controversy, pandemonium

· Sawka sawka : to treat roughly

· Wagga wagga : fat, obese, (Often the end result of licky licky behavior)

· Walla walla : to wallow or indulge in

· Warra warra : the definition is hard to pin down but it seems to refer to an unmentionable part of a person’s anatomy as in – No mek mi haffi tell yuh bout yuh warra warra or move yuh warra warra from side a di people dem good good pickney.

· Woi woi : far away, remote

NB: We sometimes ” triple- up ” words e.g. Mi cant believe im lef yuh an the baby without a cent. Jus so so so?

If you had others to share please email me elvachatalot@yahoo.com or follow me on Twitter @ElvaJamaica