All about Barbados
English is the official language. Bajans talk an accent similar to english among each other.This 'Bajan' is a creole language, english mixed with westafrican idioms. Certain letters get cut off and words get shortened. 'Th' gets pronounced as 'd' or 'f'. To stress sentences they get ordered in a new way. The meaning of a word might be totally different than you thought.
For the ones really interested in the dialect, they should have a look at Frank Collymores Book 'Bajan Dialect'. He was born in Barbados in 1893 and published many poems, short stories, articles and more and got honoured with awards. He died in 1980 and the Frank Collymore Hall in the Central Bank of Barbados got named after him.
The chirping of the funny black bird is called 'betsy white'.
If there is heavy rain, it s not raining cats and dogs, but 'bucket a drop'.
'hot toddy' ist still the hot drink with rum for a cold, but 'hot' means here not the temperature,
it means the strength of the rum.
Hillarious is the fact, that bajans never miss the bus, the bus always misses them.
If you have a cold, it doesnt mean you hava a runny nose, it can be used for any symptom possible.
Headache: 'cold in the head', Backache: 'cold in the back' etc.