[Carib] Island sayings from St. Thomas

[LAld...@nc.rr.com]

Folks,
Hope everyone is enjoying a splendid new year. I stumbled across these
island sayings (URL below) and wondered if those of you lucky enough
to live in the Caribbean could share some more, especially those you
heard your forebears intone.

Cheers, all,
Laura

http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2011/11/sayings-from-islands.html

[Dante]

From St. Thomas, Virgin Islands:
My Grannie had a number of West Indian sayings she liked to use:
"Fisherman know everyday is fishing day, but not everyday is catching day."
"Once a man, twice a chile."
"Cockroach no have business in a fowl house."
"Devil beatin he wife." (This referred to the common island phenomena of a light rain that would last maybe 5 minutes while the sun was still shining- I suppose the rain being the teardrops.)

When I was growing up on St. Thomas, Arona Petersen was a neighbor. Among her books was Herbs and Proverbs of the VI St. Thomas Graphics, St. Thomas, VI 1974. This is a mix of descriptions of different island herbs and their uses along with some old time sayings. One of my favorites: "Donkey say, God make hill so you could rest in hollow."

Then, from St. Croix, George Seaman collected a number of old time sayings in his Not So Cat Walk (The Philosophy of a People and an Era Expressed by Proverbs) George A. Seaman, St. Croix, V.I. 1974.

Just a few of the things that come to mind..

Happy New Year to you!
Dante

> End of CARIBBEAN Digest, Vol 7, Issue 5
> ***************************************
>

[to...@sweetpatootee.co.uk]

Hi Laura and New Year's greetings to you and all

Here are a few more worked into a lovely reggae song called 'Cool Out Son',
recorded by Junior Murvin. The link below takes you to the upload on You
Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r3TAG638Sw

Warmest regards

T

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[Augusta Elmwood]

Hi, List!

The <Devil beatin he wife> caught my eye, because that was always an old New Orleans saying. up through mid-late 1900s and earlier, but I don’t know when it started -- the last time I heard it was from my mother. Of course no one passes them on any more.

When I mentioned it to a French friend (suspecting that the saying had French origins), he said that the full saying goes something like <...le diable bat son épouse et mari sa soeur> meaning that when it was raining and the sun was still shining, the devil beat his wife and married his sister. I suppose this speaks to the abnormal nature of both occurrences. Interesting how these sayings got around!

Thanks for asking the question. Looking forward to more sayings!

Augusta Elmwood
New Orleans, LA

[Dorothy Kew]

That's an interesting take on that saying, Augusta. In Jamaica I grew up
with this one, when it's raining and the sun is shining:

The devil and his wife are fighting for a wishbone.

Seems like the devil was always involved somehow!

Dorothy

[LAld...@nc.rr.com]

I am so enjoying all the sayings. Fascinating & colorful stuff.

My Mother, who hails from Pensacola, FL (three hours east of New
Orleans) always says the devil is beating his wife when the sun shines
while it's raining. I had totally forgotten that until Dante mentioned
it. And my father (from Virginia) and mother both used the saying
"When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."

Cheers, all.
Laura

[Dante]

Laura and Augusta,

I too am enjoying this thread. I never heard 'Devil beating he wife' from anyone except my Grannie, so this is interesting. I suppose she said it with a West Indian accent and to me it becomes a 'West Indian' saying.

We used to play a game as children called 'Devil in the fish pot flying through the air'. The person who was 'it' was the Devil, and the rest of the players would pick a specific color without the devil's knowledge of their color. The 'Devil' would come to the door and knock.
Devil: "knock, knock!"
All: "Who's there?"
Devil: "Devil in the fish pot flyin through the air."
All: "What do you want?"
Devil: "A color."
All: "What color."
Devil: "Green"
The person who picked green as their color would start running and the devil would have to catch that person, after which that person now became the devil. You could always mess with the devil by picking some offbeat color like 'lavender'. I think we learned this game from Grannie and it fit the bill as a good island game- It was a cheap game to play and where else would the devil be in a fish pot flying through the air?

Dante

On Jan 17, 2012, at 2:00 AM, caribbea...@rootsweb.com wrote:

> I am so enjoying all the sayings. Fascinating & colorful stuff.
>
> My Mother, who hails from Pensacola, FL (three hours east of New
> Orleans) always says the devil is beating his wife when the sun shines
> while it's raining. I had totally forgotten that until Dante mentioned
> it. And my father (from Virginia) and mother both used the saying
> "When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."
>
> Cheers, all.
> Laura
>
>
> On Jan 15, 2012, at 9:48 PM, Augusta Elmwood wrote:
>
> Hi, List!
>
> The <Devil beatin he wife> caught my eye, because that was always an
> old New Orleans saying. up through mid-late 1900s and earlier, but I

> don?t know when it started -- the last time I heard it was from my

> mother. Of course no one passes them on any more.
>
> When I mentioned it to a French friend (suspecting that the saying had
> French origins), he said that the full saying goes something like

> <...le diable bat son ?pouse et mari sa soeur> meaning that when it

[Dante]

Peter,

Thanks for this link- I found it very interesting. I'll need to take more time to read about the Quaker Lettsomes of the BVI.

I found out this past year that my great great grandmother was Mary Ann Lettsome born ca. 1833 in Tortola. She was Episcopalian and married in 1857 in St. Thomas. Any ideas how I can get further info on Mary Ann Lettsome's parents?

Thanks,

Dante

On Jan 17, 2012, at 2:00 AM, caribbea...@rootsweb.com wrote:

>

> Thought this might interest some of you
>
> Religion, Archaeology, and Social Relations: A Study of the Practice of Quakerism and Caribbean Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century British Virgin Islands by John Chenoweth
> <http://stanford.academia.edu/JohnChenoweth/Books/585860/Religion_Archaeology_and_Social_Relations_A_Study_of_the_Practice_of_Quakerism_and_Caribbean_Slavery_in_the_Eighteenth-Century_British_Virgin_Islands>
>

[lwa...@comcast.net]

I'll be staying tuned to see about Tortola records myself. Were there
censuses? Is anything on microfilm? I'm interested in late 1700s
documents.

Dante,
I love your game! What great fun for the children. The transformation
from fugitive to devil is fascinating, too. How very elemental. I'm
sure there are some fantasies/mythology behind it.

Cheers,
Laura