What's the deal with British/Canadian people using Caribbean slang?

[Pakistanian]

I noticed that a lot of British and Canadians are adopting carribean/jamaican slang and passing it off as their own like "toronto slang" or "london slang" even though it's from the Caribbean unlike in America where our slang is native and originate from African-Americans in the inner cities. I don't know if this is an attempt to try to present London/Toronto as urbane and raw like American cities lool

 

[Pakistanian]

I think Drake's at fault for appropriating Caribbean culture and trying to present it as "Toronto culture".

 

[KingKhanWC]

Hhere in the UK this is part of urban culture now. Pakistanis, Indians and West Indians arrived in the UK around the same time, in the 60's. They all lived in the same working class areas, integrated with each other and took each others cultures on board. Different words were taken from the Caribbean language by those growing up together which turned into street talk/slang etc.

Also Reggae which is very popular music became massive in the UK, with many UK artists making it into the top 40 regularly. In Birmingham we have UB40, Apache Indian and others which produced reggae music.

I think you guys in Canada are behind in urban culture and are prob just catching up.

 

[Pakistanian]

Hhere in the UK this is part of urban culture now. Pakistanis, Indians and West Indians arrived in the UK around the same time, in the 60's. They all lived in the same working class areas, integrated with each other and took each others cultures on board. Different words were taken from the Caribbean language by those growing up together which turned into street talk/slang etc.

Also Reggae which is very popular music became massive in the UK, with many UK artists making it into the top 40 regularly. In Birmingham we have UB40, Apache Indian and others which produced reggae music.

I think you guys in Canada are behind in urban culture and are prob just catching up.

yeah but it's still carribean slang not british, I could adopt spanish words into my speech it doesn't make it American.

 

[KingKhanWC]

yeah but it's still carribean slang not british, I could adopt spanish words into my speech it doesn't make it American.

Slang can a mixture of words, not just one. Here slang can be a mixture of Caribbean, English and even Asian words. Sure we live in a global world where languages travel but if you went to urban London, the language you'd hear would be unique to London. It doesn't mean anyone is copying Jamaican words but what people here esp the young have evolved into speaking. Caribbean language is much cooler than most so easy to catch on.

 

[Salma_T]

Some people have a very black and white view......languages evolve and west Indian slang is part and parcel of British slang esp in the inner city areas.
Also some have a real obsession with thinking America is ever is original

 

[Pakistanian]

Some people have a very black and white view......languages evolve and west Indian slang is part and parcel of British slang esp in the inner city areas.
Also some have a real obsession with thinking America is ever is original

Yes but it's still Caribbean slang, appropriating another culture and then claiming its canadian or british is unfair to the people that it originated from.

American slang is entirely original, I mean we're home to hollywood and the biggest music industry. African-American slang originated from the inner cities and they've been in this country for 300-400 years. We also have lots of west indian immigrants here but nobody's trying to appropriate patois.

 

[nextover666666]

In Montreal you see a lot of French Canadiens or even Arabs ( from Morocco or Tunisia / algeria) use slang from Haiti. Their is nothing wrong with Haitian slang or Haitian language ( creole ) which is like a broken French if you wanna put it that way but when you see the others do it non Haitian it's really annoying lol

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Some people have a very black and white view......languages evolve and west Indian slang is part and parcel of British slang esp in the inner city areas.
Also some have a real obsession with thinking America is ever is original

In this case it didn't evolve, it's become hip in the last few years only. You are getting people who have no connection with the Caribbean whatsoever adopting this accent because they think it makes them sound cool. It is like when desis started dressing and acting like black rappers, in this case you are getting white boys talking like dis ting....y'get me?

 

[Salma_T]

In this case it didn't evolve, it's become hip in the last few years only. You are getting people who have no connection with the Caribbean whatsoever adopting this accent because they think it makes them sound cool. It is like when desis started dressing and acting like black rappers, in this case you are getting white boys talking like dis ting....y'get me?

Asian boys have been talking like this for the last 20 yrs plus!

 

[JaDed]

Lol @trying to present Toronto as urbane , Toronto still wipes the floor with most cities in USA inspite of not belonging to a country with a huge GDP.

And Americans think they are original, lol yeah cheese burgers probably are, but not your chilli or super flax multiseed etc crap bars.

Cali is the biggest farce ,I see so many using Mexican slangs was that invented in the inner areas of Taco bell?

 

[Pakistanian]

Lol @trying to present Toronto as urbane , Toronto still wipes the floor with most cities in USA inspite of not belonging to a country with a huge GDP.

And Americans think they are original, lol yeah cheese burgers probably are, but not your chilli or super flax multiseed etc crap bars.

Cali is the biggest farce ,I see so many using Mexican slangs was that invented in the inner areas of Taco bell?

what a joke, toronto is nowhere near America's top 5 cities. Toronto is just a midtier New York city and Chicago combined into one.

California was once part of Mexico, go read a history book . Taco Bell isn't even mexican, try harder

 

[JaDed]

what a joke, toronto is nowhere near America's top 5 cities. Toronto is just a midtier New York city and Chicago combined into one.

California was once part of Mexico, go read a history book . Taco Bell isn't even mexican, try harder

That's exactly what I meant abt taco Bell ,about American originality,thanks for proving my point

 

[Abdul]

Nothing wrong with gangstas uniting hands.

 

[Suleiman]

I think Drake's at fault for appropriating Caribbean culture and trying to present it as "Toronto culture".

He's doing it for Rihanna aunty.

 

[Pakistanian]

Nothing wrong with gangstas uniting hands.

Gangsta culture originated in America lmao

 

[Robert]

Slang can a mixture of words, not just one. Here slang can be a mixture of Caribbean, English and even Asian words. Sure we live in a global world where languages travel but if you went to urban London, the language you'd hear would be unique to London. It doesn't mean anyone is copying Jamaican words but what people here esp the young have evolved into speaking. Caribbean language is much cooler than most so easy to catch on.

Wa’ gwan [MENTION=43583]KingKhanWC[/MENTION]?

 

[sweep_shot]

It is seen as cool by many.

When I was in high school, my area was a brown-majority area. Many brown kids were acting like blacks. They were dressing like blacks, talking like blacks etc.

 

[ElRaja]

was more common a decade ago, caribbean linguistic influence in London reducing as second and third gen Caribbean people pretty much just MLE english now, African influence is increasing tho i think.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

I've always wondered how people from the Caribbean feel about how many Black British musicians putting on an accent and rapping like they are from Jamaica or Barbados.


But on a side note I got a surprise when I found out how similar the caribbean term for female backside is to the term we would use

 

[ElRaja]

I've always wondered how people from the Caribbean feel about how many Black British musicians putting on an accent and rapping like they are from Jamaica or Barbados.

as far as i know, ranges from amusement to appreciation if an ethnic jamaican does it, you have to remember that its not really putting on an accent as much as its code switching. my jamaican mate sounds born and bred London, but when he used to speak to his gran he used to speak in patois, like we might talk in urdu, or punjabi to our elders.

from what I've heard, ethnic jamaicans don't really appreciate other people putting on jamaican accents tho, there was a piece on the BBC a few years ago which got a lot of stick, and my jamaican mate was fairly furious, given the people in the show were african.

But on a side note I got a surprise when I found out how similar the caribbean term for female backside is to the term we would use

pretty sure the word ur thinking of is west African, if its the one j-hus used in his main hit song.

 

[daytrader]

I noticed that a lot of British and Canadians are adopting carribean/jamaican slang and passing it off as their own like "toronto slang" or "london slang" even though it's from the Caribbean unlike in America where our slang is native and originate from African-Americans in the inner cities. I don't know if this is an attempt to try to present London/Toronto as urbane and raw like American cities lool

Haven't really noticed this. Please do share a few examples

 

[DeadlyVenom]

as far as i know, ranges from amusement to appreciation if an ethnic jamaican does it, you have to remember that its not really putting on an accent as much as its code switching. my jamaican mate sounds born and bred London, but when he used to speak to his gran he used to speak in patois, like we might talk in urdu, or punjabi to our elders.

from what I've heard, ethnic jamaicans don't really appreciate other people putting on jamaican accents tho, there was a piece on the BBC a few years ago which got a lot of stick, and my jamaican mate was fairly furious, given the people in the show were african.

Yeah I guess that makes sense.

Was the thing on the BBC that you are referring to when white yardie got ambushed by some snotty black people who asked him racist questions?

pretty sure the word ur thinking of is west African, if its the one j-hus used in his main hit song.

yeah thats the one. My mistake, I assumed it was from the caribbean.

 

[ElRaja]

Yeah I guess that makes sense.

Was the thing on the BBC that you are referring to when white yardie got ambushed by some snotty black people who asked him racist questions?

no, ill see if i can find it again to share

yeah thats the one. My mistake, I assumed it was from the caribbean.

the jamaican term has more to do with one half of the main equipment required to play cricket.