Tristin Hopper, "Rob Ford’s drunken, Jamaican English-laced rant translated", National Post 1/21/2014:
On Monday, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was videotaped in a bizarre exchange at a Toronto fast food restaurant that is notable not only for the mayor’s drunkenness, but for his liberal use of Jamaican English.
Through careful analysis of the audio — and translation via sources in Jamaica — the National Post presents this approximate transcript of Mr. Ford’s exchange with an unknown citizen, along with explanations.
FORD:
Cocksuckers. Fuckin’ Chief Blair and them all. Cha, man. They chase me around for five months, man. Bumbaclot man. I said, me and him, ya raasclat bumbaclot.
You know how much money that costs, man? I said bro, just cut something, ‘no man, no money man.’ Cha. Ah, Bumbaclot, man. I said ‘you know what? You raasclat, bumbaclot. I swear to God, man, honestly man. Serious shit, man. Serious shit, bro.
CITIZEN:
All we know is we got the best mayor in the world right here.
FORD:
No, seriously, you know …
CITIZEN:
This guy deserves to be even better than Prime Minister Harper.
Harper is the guy who is fucking up. I always tell them go become the Prime Minister of Canada.
FORD:
No, no, no, no. I don’t bullsh*t, you know? I’m a straight up guy, you know?
Who goes into THC? Who’s going into Jamestown, Jane and Finch and then Malvern on the—them fucks—you know what I see, manbro? Shit like …
Key vocabulary items:
cha: The Post article says that "'cha' is a disdainful expletive, the Caribbean equivalent of 'bah!'"
The Patwah Dictionary spells it "cho" and glosses it as "darn!"
bumbaclot: The clot / claat part is "cloth", and the bumba / bumbo part is related to "bum".
According to the Patwah Dictionary entry, this is
One of the most popular swear words in Jamaica. Though this word doesn't have an actual meaning or english translation, it is mostly used as an exclamation of shock, surprise, anger, frustration or for any other intense emotions.
This term is sometimes combine with other Jamaican expletives such as bloodclaat or pussyclaat. For example, bumbo-bloodclaat or bumbo-pussyclaat.
Bumboclaat is actually a very vulgar swear word so you can get arrested for using it around police officers as well as dismissed from a class or formal business place.
raasclot: Again the clot part is cloth, and the raas part is "ass":
Patwah dictionary entry:
Generic curse word often used to curse or when one is excited. The word itself does not have a definite meaning. It is often prefixed with other curse words such as bumbo or pussy e.g. bumbo-rassclaat
Example Sentences
Patois: Weh di rassclaat a gwaan yah suh?
English: What the fuck is going on here?
Josh Marshall, "Too legit to quit", Talking Points Memo 1/22/2014:
Believe it or not, Rob Ford has a serious shot at winning reelection as Mayor of Toronto this year. Indeed, through everything he's maintained strong plurality support.
Dana Ford and Steve Almasy, "Toronto Mayor Rob Ford: 'I had a minor setback'", CNN 1/22/2014:
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he suffered a "setback" this week after a video posted on social media showed him babbling about the city's police chief Monday night while he was at a fast-food restaurant.
The mayor, who became infamous for admitting he had smoked crack and drank too much in the past, has said he only had a small amount to drink and didn't take drugs Monday.
"As you know, I'm a human being — the same as every one of you. And I'm entitled to a personal life, and my personal life does not interfere with the work I do, day-in and day-out, for the taxpayers of this great city," he told reporters Wednesday.
"Monday was unfortunate. I had a minor setback. We all experience these difficult bumps in life. I am telling the Toronto residents that I'm still working hard every day to improve my health and my well-being. But again, this is completely a private matter."
Doktor Zoom, "Rob Ford has entered full Andy Kaufman mode", wonkette.com 1/22/2014:
If Toronto can’t fire him, they may just install him in a permanent performance space.
I wonder if he can cuss in all the various ethnic varieties of (seriously multi-ethnic) Toronto. Probably not, I'm afraid.
Update — Tristin Hopper, "‘Identifiably Jamaican’: Rob Ford’s Patois is actually pretty authentic, Jamaica-based linguistics expert says", National Post 1/22/2014:
A Kingston, Jamaica-based linguistics professor has affirmed that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford indeed appeared to show a good passing knowledge of Jamaican Creole in his drunken Monday night rant, and that his speech was not necessarily vulgar.
“His language, in that context in Jamaica, would not be out of place,” wrote Hubert Devonish, a professor of linguistics at the University of the West Indies’ Jamaican Language Unit, writing in an email to the National Post.
Although Mr. Ford’s speech is indeed laced with Jamaican expletives, the professor noted that the mayor was speaking to fellow men at a late night venue, in this case the Etobicoke restaurant Steak Queen.
“In fact, in a male dominated domain such as that, in casual conversation amongst friends, such language is normal and would not be considered obscene,” wrote Mr. Devonish.
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