Double up… words only a Jamaican would understand

Rather than use the word “very” for emphasis Jamaican Patois simply doubles some words. So instead of saying, “Why is the food so oily?” we might say, “Wah kinda oily oily food dis?” I’m sure you can tell what I mean if I describe a person as being sicky sicky or a fruit as being seedy seedy, but while some of these double-worded expressions are easy to understand, others like picky picky are less straight forward.

No, it doesn’t describe someone who is hard to please, but rather hair that is short and coarse (I will not really go into the rightness or wrongness of the term which, yes, is meant to be insulting, but that’s what that means.)

Of course as I normally do when I’m writing a post on Jamaican expressions, I decided to link (contact) my cousin, Monique. In this case however I already had my phrases and meanings ready and only wanted to check if she and her friends were familiar with them. I wanted to ensure that I had chosen widely used phrases and not just ones that were used only, say, in Kingston or in my community. But luckily for me, she and her friends went to town on this one and actually came up with some of the meanings; it’s almost like the post wrote itself for me! Anyhow, I think this is just my roundabout way of presenting my disclaimer for #2, haha. Here goes…

1. Fenkeh fenkeh: (adj.) Cheap or of little worth; weak; puny. A wah kinda fenkeh fenkeh present dat?

2. Doogoo doogoo: (vb.) To engage in the act of sexual intercourse (usually while hiding) at an age when you shouldn’t even be thinking about that, and a yuh book yuh fi a tek up. Before yuh go study yuh book yuh a talk bout doogoo doogoo.

3. Placka placka: (adj.) wet, nasty, unsightly and generally disgusting in appearance. It is usually used to describe food. No sah! Why your dumpling always so sof’ and placka placka?

4. Mecke mecke: (adj.) an alternative to #3

5. Saaka saaka: (vb.) To cut/ chop something with no care; to carry out intercourse in a wild, coarse, careless or unsympathetic manner. Why yuh use di knife and saaka saaka up di bread like dis?

6. Chakka chakka: (adj.)Untidy, unorganized, messy. Why di livin’ room look so chakka chakka?

7. Boggo boggo: (adj.) Constant, loud and annoying or distasteful music/noise. Every day yuh wake up wid dis boggo boggo music inna di place.

8. Panga panga: (vb.) To be struggling/ barely making it. Missis, mi just deh yah a gwaan panga panga.

9. Walla walla: (vb.) Play or move around in something in a messy, unpleasant manner. This term is surely patois for “wallow”. Just tek yuh food and stop walla walla inna di pot.

10. Batta batta: (vb.) Treat something or someone with little care, resulting in severe damage to them, to the point that they become undesirable or of little use value. Mi nah mek nobody come batta batta mi up.

11. Chamba chamba: (adj.) tattered and torn. Dis yah shoes lace chamba chamba sah!

12. Craab up craab up: (adj.) All scratched up; wrecked; damaged. It is mostly used to describe a person. Some gal just look craab up craab up.

13. Licky licky: (adj.) Extremely greedy; easily baited with food. Yuh too licky licky das why dem a go poison yuh.

14. Krebeh krebeh: (n) a person who is not up to standard. Har man a real krebeh krebeh.

15. Lay lay: (vb.) idle; wasting time. Nuh badda lay lay; just run my money!

I wish I had some deep and insightful explanation for the origins of these words but I honestly don’t think there is. It’s just one of the quirks of the patois language. What do you think of these double expressions? Did I forget any? Share them below. Walk good!