Meaning
A reddish-brown, medicated antiseptic bar soap — the classic 'red soap' of Jamaican bathrooms and yards, with its distinctive tarry, carbolic smell. Trusted for bathing and for cleaning cuts, scrapes, skin irritations, and 'washing off' after dirty work, carbolic soap sits beside blue soap as a household mainstay, valued for its germ-killing reputation.
Examples
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Wash di cut wid carbolic soap.
Wash the cut with carbolic soap.
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Di red carbolic soap kill germ.
The red carbolic soap kills germs.
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Bathe wid carbolic soap after yuh work inna di dirt.
Bathe with carbolic soap after working in the dirt.
Origin
From 'carbolic' (the antiseptic phenol); the reddish medicated 'red soap'. See [[blue-soap]], [[bush-tea]].
How it’s used
Reddish antiseptic 'red soap' for bathing and cleaning cuts. See [[blue-soap]].