Showing posts with label Miami-Dade Argot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miami-Dade Argot. Show all posts
Sunday, June 03, 2012
I Love this Place!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Lethal Scissors
Jane reports a telephone conversation with her credit card company about a suspicious charge. The person she was speaking to said that the charge was for "Lethal Scissors." Jane asked the person to spell the name, after several tries to understand whom the person at the other end was describing.
"L I T T L E C A E S A R S."
"L I T T L E C A E S A R S."
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The Lingua Franca of Miami-Dade
Years ago, when Macon and Walter were younger teenagers, they rode around Miami Springs on their bikes and made a movie for the use of the Pulpit Search Committee of our church in its recruiting of a new minister. They narrated it.
When the new minister arrived, we went to a social event that welcomed him and his wife. At some point we told his wife that our sons had made that video. His wife said that people back in Iowa, where they came from, were fascinated by their "accent" and wondered where they had lived before the United States.
Anyway, the way we speak Miami-Dade lingua franca is useful. We can use the same word for several things. For example, this afternoon Carol is in the kitchen chopping the vegetables that she purchased at Whole Foods and Publix where she went chopping yesterday.
When we need something to put on our feet, we choose what we want at the store that sells choose, whether at the shopping center or, more frequently, the internet.
There is a lawyer of Haitian descent who practices in our building with a Jewish lawyer. They are great friends of the lawyers in our firm. The Haitian-descent lawyer's name is Gerald, written out. Spoken by the two of them, its "Jaw." Jaw is much bigger than I am, although a lot nicer than I am. I would, therefore, never hit Jaw in the jaw. You wouldn't either.
We are not talking Spanglish here. We are talking Miami-Dade.
UPDATE: I had to splane this to Carol. She couldn't see how Gerald equals Jaw. "I said 'Jaw,' Carol." I guess it sounds like "Gee-Aw" to her, but it sounds like Jaw to me. Do you get it now, Carol? 'Gee-aw" equals Gerald with a Haitian assent. (Yes, you get it now, right? Accent is pronounced assent.) At least that's what his partner David calls him. David doesn't mean to call him that bone with teeth in it. But it sounds like that to me. I'm sorry, Carol, but Gerald's my friend and his name is Jaw and he answers to that.
When the new minister arrived, we went to a social event that welcomed him and his wife. At some point we told his wife that our sons had made that video. His wife said that people back in Iowa, where they came from, were fascinated by their "accent" and wondered where they had lived before the United States.
Anyway, the way we speak Miami-Dade lingua franca is useful. We can use the same word for several things. For example, this afternoon Carol is in the kitchen chopping the vegetables that she purchased at Whole Foods and Publix where she went chopping yesterday.
When we need something to put on our feet, we choose what we want at the store that sells choose, whether at the shopping center or, more frequently, the internet.
There is a lawyer of Haitian descent who practices in our building with a Jewish lawyer. They are great friends of the lawyers in our firm. The Haitian-descent lawyer's name is Gerald, written out. Spoken by the two of them, its "Jaw." Jaw is much bigger than I am, although a lot nicer than I am. I would, therefore, never hit Jaw in the jaw. You wouldn't either.
We are not talking Spanglish here. We are talking Miami-Dade.
UPDATE: I had to splane this to Carol. She couldn't see how Gerald equals Jaw. "I said 'Jaw,' Carol." I guess it sounds like "Gee-Aw" to her, but it sounds like Jaw to me. Do you get it now, Carol? 'Gee-aw" equals Gerald with a Haitian assent. (Yes, you get it now, right? Accent is pronounced assent.) At least that's what his partner David calls him. David doesn't mean to call him that bone with teeth in it. But it sounds like that to me. I'm sorry, Carol, but Gerald's my friend and his name is Jaw and he answers to that.
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