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Places & Directions
68 entries in this part of the language, each with meanings, pronunciation and worked examples.
- Adelphi A rural district in the parish of St.
- Back-O-Wall A historic West Kingston shanty settlement — a squatter community of makeshift shacks 'back…
- Board house A house built of wooden boards rather than block and concrete — the traditional and humbler…
- Bush Wild, uncultivated land — thick vegetation, the deep countryside, or any overgrown…
- Chimmy A chamber pot — the covered pot kept under the bed for use at night, especially in old-time…
- Clarendon A large parish in south-central Jamaica, with its capital at May Pen — known for its…
- Cockpit Country The wild, rugged limestone karst region of interior Trelawny (and beyond) — a maze of…
- Common yard A yard shared by several households, where each family has its own room or small dwelling…
- Concrete jungle The tough, tightly-packed inner city — the maze of concrete tenement yards and lanes where…
- Corner The street corner — the classic gathering spot where 'the corner' crew hangs out, plays…
- Coronation Market The huge, teeming produce market in downtown Kingston — the biggest in Jamaica — where…
- Country The rural areas of Jamaica, away from Kingston and the coastal towns — the deep countryside…
- Cross Roads A busy commercial junction and district in Kingston, where several main roads meet — a…
- Crossroads A place where two roads cross — a junction that serves as a landmark, a meeting point, and…
- Deso Right there;
- Di corner The street corner where friends gather to talk, play games, and pass the time — the…
- Downtown The old commercial heart of Kingston near the waterfront — busy markets, street vending…
- Ends One's home area, neighbourhood, or the local streets where a person is from and known — 'di…
- Endz a road Out on the streets, in the local area, hanging around the block — being physically out and…
- Farrin Abroad — any country outside Jamaica, and above all the United States, Britain, and Canada…
- Fur Far;
- Garrison An inner-city community that votes solidly for one political party and is controlled by it…
- Gate The gate to a yard — but 'the gate' is also a social threshold and gathering spot.
- Ghetto A poor, densely populated inner-city community — the tough, under-resourced neighbourhoods…
- Grung The ground;
- Gully A drainage gully or ditch — and, by extension, the poor inner-city neighbourhoods that grow…
- Gully bank The steep side or edge of a gully — the sloping bank of the deep drainage ditch or dry…
- Gyalchester A playful nickname for the parish of Manchester, swapping the 'Man' for 'Gyal' (girl).
- Half Way Tree The bustling central hub of St Andrew (the Kingston metropolitan area) — a major…
- Hanover The smallest parish in Jamaica, on the north-west coast, with its capital at Lucea.
- Jamdown A slang name for Jamaica, especially in reggae and dancehall and among the diaspora —…
- Jamrock An affectionate insider name for Jamaica.
- Junction A road junction where routes meet — and, very often in Jamaica, the small commercial centre…
- Kingston The capital and largest city of Jamaica — the island's centre of government, commerce, and…
- Lane A narrow lane or alley between the houses of a community — the intimate back-streets of a…
- Lite Light — the everyday word covering both illumination and electricity.
- Lucea The small, historic capital of Hanover parish, on the north-west coast between Montego Bay…
- Main road The main road through a district — the big, paved thoroughfare that the buses and taxis run…
- Mandeville The capital of Manchester parish — a cool, elevated inland town in the central highlands…
- MoBay Montego Bay — Jamaica's second city and tourist capital, on the north-west coast in St…
- Morass A swamp or wetland — low, waterlogged, muddy ground thick with reeds, mangroves, and bog…
- Ocho Rios A major north-coast resort town in the parish of St.
- Papine A square and transport terminus at the northern edge of the Kingston area, at the foot of…
- Pen A livestock property or grazing farm, especially one raising cattle — from the enclosed…
- Piazza A verandah, porch, or covered walkway at the front of a house or shop — an old-time word…
- Plaaza A shopping plaza — a small strip mall of shops, offices, and eateries, a fixture of…
- Portland A lush, mountainous parish on the north-east coast, its capital Port Antonio — famed as the…
- Portmore The large, fast-grown dormitory city just west of Kingston (across the causeway in St…
- Rae Town A waterside community in East Kingston, famous island-wide for its legendary Sunday-night…
- River River — the running fresh water where country folk bathe, wash clothes, catch janga…
- Savanna-la-Mar The capital town of the parish of Westmoreland, on Jamaica's south-west coast — usually…
- Scheme A housing development or planned residential neighbourhood — a 'housing scheme' of laid-out…
- Sea The sea — and, by extension, the beach or seaside.
- Shack A small, roughly built hut or shed of board and zinc — humble one-room housing, or a little…
- Spring A natural source where fresh water rises from the ground — a spring, prized as clean, cool…
- Square Square — the central meeting point of a town or district, the junction where roads, shops…
- Tenement yard A rented urban yard of many small single rooms, each home to a whole family, ranged around…
- The Rock An affectionate nickname for Jamaica itself — 'the Rock' — used especially by Jamaicans…
- Town The city — most often Kingston, the capital, spoken of in contrast to the rural 'country'.
- Trench Town A poor but musically hallowed neighbourhood of West Kingston — the cradle of ska…
- Uptown The wealthier, more affluent parts of Kingston — and, by extension, the whole middle- and…
- Verandah The porch or covered gallery running along the front or side of a Jamaican house — the…
- Waterside The edge of a river or stream where people gather — to wash clothes, bathe, fetch water…
- Yaad Home — whether one's own house, one's community, or Jamaica itself.
- Yah Here, this place — the everyday word for 'here', as in 'come yah' (come here) and 'wi deh…
- Yard Home — one's house and the ground around it — and, by extension, Jamaica itself when spoken…
- Yaso Right here;
- Zinc fence A fence made of sheets of corrugated galvanised metal ('zinc') — the ubiquitous rusting…