Post by Lara and Kevin
21 July 2014
In our two years here, we have both achieved an “advanced”
mastery of Sierra Leonean Krio. We’re a
bit afraid that that level of fluency has shoved some of our English out the
door…so here’s your head’s up if you’ll be seeing us upon our arrival home. Our
English is Krio-ified, for sure. As a
small celebration of our impending homecoming, we want to put together some superlatives,
and here, to kick it off, are some of our favorite Krio words and phrases:
Fak – A rubber band of any sort. It sounds like a very bad
word, and it’s often used as a transitive verb (as in, “I’m going to fak your hair”)
Gbing gbing [or bing bing] – A phrase used to add emphasis
or to specify what you’re talking about.
We feel silly saying it, but love it at the same time.
Han Klin [as in “hand clean”] – A handkerchief, of course
Astafulay – Comes from Arabic, meaning “God forbid it”. A great word to use when bargaining for
things in the market.
Bobi Wata [literally, boob water] – Breast milk. What else
would you call it?
Balans [“balance”] – To ignore. People here do not like to be “balanced”.
Jam/Jamsi – To “jam” is to fight. A person is your “jamsi”
if you had a fight and never resolved it…which means you permanently “balance”
each other.
Wetin sef – Whatchamacallit (or thingamajig)
Hala hala [holler holler]
– A verbal argument. Always loud. Seldom has a winner.
So so – Alternately used to mean “et cetera” or “a whole lot”.
Teeeee [pronounced “tayyyyyyy”] – It means, “untillllll….”
Usually it indicates a long time or an extensive amount (as in, “cook the sauce
tayyyyyyy it has boiled for an hour”).
De de de – One of the weirdest correctly-conjugated verbs we
know of, in any language. If something “de
de de,” that means it “is being there”.
Poto Poto [puddle puddle] – Mud
Roba [rubber] – A bucket. Not a condom.
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