Tag: #JamaicanProverbs
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When yuh house deh pon fiyah, yuh nuh chase rat
On Priorities, Crises, and the Art of Knowing What Actually Matters Somewhere, right now, someone is in a meeting about the font on the newsletter while the company is losing its best people. Somewhere, a couple is arguing about the dishes while the real conversation, the one about what they are both feeling, does not…
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Nuh mek di same rope wah tie goat tie yuh
Learning From What Has Already Constrained Others You have seen the rope before. Maybe you have watched a coworker step into the same problems that pushed the last person out of the role. Maybe you have watched a friend keep choosing the same kind of relationship, with the same exciting beginning and the same painful…
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Di same sun wah melt butta, bake bread
How Two People in the Same Situation Can Have Completely Different Experiences The sun does not choose. It rises the same way every morning over Kingston and St. Thomas, over the Blue Mountains and the sea. It gives the same heat to the butter on the table and the bread in the outdoor oven. The…
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Chicken merry, hawk deh near
Why Your Best Moments Deserve Your Sharpest Attention There is a particular kind of joy that Jamaicans know how to inhabit fully. You may have seen it at a lyme or session when the bass from the sound system is deep enough to feel in your chest. You may have sensed it as curried goat,…
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Not because puss have long tail mek him dog
On Seeing People and Situations for What They Actually Are There’s a quiet kind of mistake that causes more trouble than most people expect. It happens when we look at someone or a situation and fill in the gaps with what we hope is true instead of what’s actually there. A cat with a long tail…
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Every Day Bucket Go a Well, One Day Di Bottom Drop Out
Change Is Coming even When It Feels Like It Isn’t A colleague of mine likes to boast that he has a healthy play ethic. For some, that means the privilege of taking long trips abroad, engaging in expensive hobbies or taking time out to savor life. For many years, I treated play and rest as…
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Mout’ Mek Fi Talk
Speak Your Truth before Silence Starts Speaking For You Before microphones and megaphones, podcasts and press conferences, Instagram captions and Whatsapp messages, there was always the simplest technology of all: the mouth. Jamaican wisdom does names its purpose plainly: “Mout mek fi talk.” Literally, the mouth is made for talking. Figuratively, your voice is not…
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Jackass Say Di Worl’ Nuh Level
Life Isn’t Always Fair…So We Choose Compassion This past Christmas and New Year’s unfolded in the shadow of Hurricane Melissa. For many Jamaicans, the aftermath was devastating: some were left staring at the sky where their roofs once stood, surrounded by the soaked wreckage of their homes. Others saw their farming livelihoods wiped out, and…
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Cock Mout’ Kill Cock
When Your Words Become Your Worst Enemy There’s something magnificent about a rooster at dawn. The way he stands tall, throws back his head, and announces to the world that a new day has arrived. His crow carries confidence, authority, the unmistakable sound of someone who believes he rules his domain. But in Jamaica, there’s…
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Ef fish deh a river bottom an’ tell yuh seh alligator deh deh, believe him
When Someone Who Lives the Reality Gives You a Warning Imagine you’re standing by a pristine river on a hot summer day, ready to dive into the cool, inviting water. Suddenly, a little fish surfaces and says, “Friend, I wouldn’t go down there if I were you. There’s an alligator resting on the bottom.” What…