Patois

Posted by Tom Joad on Aug 17, 2007 | 4 comments

Patois, pronounced pat-waa or sometimes pat-waa-z, is generally held to mean any language that is non-standard. The best bet seems to be that it originated from the Old French Patoier, meaning “to handle clumsily”.

In English, a patois could be a regional dialect or a form of Pidgin English, such as the English spoken in parts of Hawaii and New Guinea. Thse are not just corrupted forms of English, but have their own words and structure (although the pidgin for Air Condidtioning is “win’ machin”, which I think is very cool (pun intended).

Probably my favourite patois is Jamaican. It sounds so much like English but they have a very rich and varied vocal style and intonation. Here’s a small poem, written by one Simone Hudson called “Patois Bodderashun”:

wah mek dem haffi chobble wi likkle twang?
mek dem nuh tek dem propa inglish an galang?
nuh everybady mek fi chat inglish lakka di queen
nuh everybady mek fi play golf pon put-put green

wah mek di whola wi haffi roun up wi mout
lakka seh wi deh nyaam whola trout?
lawd! mi cyaan tek dem deh sorta bodderashun!
jus undastan di patois an mek wi tan!
cho!…

I’ll leave it up to you whether you translate it or not. I think it’s just fine as it is. If you need a start, the line “Lawd! mi cyaan tek dem deh sortah bodderashun” translates (roughly) as Lord, I can’t take that kind of bother (or hassle).