#Bajanisms: A culture. A language.

by Mahalia Cummins

The ultimate Bajan handbook, and a remarkably refreshing and fun dive into the the intricacies of Barbadian vernacular by a treasured daughter of the soil. Mahalia is uniquely able to share the most crucial advice and instruction, for anyone wishing to seamlessly assimilate into Bajan culture. It's the only guide you need to connect more closely with Barbados and the Barbadian people, through language. The book also successfully holds a mirror up to native speakers of Bajan dialect, reminding them of the remarkably rich and unique nature of their everyday interaction, and does it in the most delightful and nostalgic way.

116 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2020

Reviews

[Baje Bookclub - Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Mahlia, notes that this book Seeks to (re)introduce, enlighten and enamour the reader to the language she loves. “ Ort den” I love the language as well. I enjoyed reading this book and confidently speaking Bajan dialect. Well they were one or two that I had to look at the sentence to understand the Bajan word 🤣🤣🤦🏽‍♀️

This book is a great gift for visitors to our island, bajans living abroad, even a games evening - write the words on paper and on teams, pick a part and see if you know the word, the meaning and the English version!!

My favorites were:
1) Plimp-luh
2) Coat-nut
3) A-nud-da
4) Bra-tion
5) Screw pooch
6) Wauh
7) You does work at Oran? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thanks Mahalia

[Ebony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bajanisms is a cool reference book if you communicate with Bajans. It was helpful in deciphering phrases that I hear regularly and am never quite sure what they meant in context. I’m not entirely sure that a Bajan would find the book useful. It’s mostly written for outsiders, and yet, I was hoping for more explanation about why words are what they are. Only a couple words were linked to an origin, and the origin is what I find most interesting. Maybe that will be book two which I totally would read although I wouldn’t buy it. This book would be best served as an app that I could search in conversation that included pronunciations.