Meaning
The Jamaican blackbird or grackle — a glossy black, sharp-eyed, noisy bird, named in imitation of its metallic 'cling-cling' call. Bold and clever, cling-clings raid crops and gardens and gather in chattering flocks. In proverb they stand for greedy, thieving opportunists: 'greedy puss get cling-cling'.
Examples
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Di cling-cling dem a tief di corn.
The blackbirds are stealing the corn.
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A whole flock a cling-cling pon di tree.
A whole flock of grackles on the tree.
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Cling-cling noisy from maanin.
The grackles are noisy from morning.
Origin
Onomatopoeic, from the bird's metallic call; the Greater Antillean grackle. See [[john-crow]], [[grass-quit]].
How it’s used
The noisy black grackle; proverbial thieving opportunist. See [[grass-quit]], [[banana-quit]].