Jamaicans have proverbs, expressions, and commentary on just about everything. Marital woes? Workplace drama? The frenzied pace of life? You name it–they’ve probably got an opinion. Some of these ...

Most words in Jamaican patois, like other English Caribbean patois, are English words filtered through a distinct phonetic system with fewer vowels and different consonant sounds. Patois is written ...

An example of West African grammar in Jamaican patois is the way verbs are formed in the past tense. Instead of using a suffix like "ed," as in "walked," a patois speaker puts a word before a verb, ...

Growing up as a first-generation West Indian, it’s always tickled me (but made me proud) to see my culture in mainstream spaces, especially if it didn’t include Bob Marley, weed or Jerk Chicken. And ...

What is Jamaica’s true “official language”? Does it have two? Should it acquire a “second language” and if so, what should it be? These questions have had Jamaican commentators tied up in knots for ...

The first Jamaican patois speaking baby doll was launched by Saffron Jackson, a U.K. teacher, and is clearly a need in the toy market. Saffron created the doll, which was released in November, after ...