Meaning
Something — a heavily compressed pronunciation of 'something', where the middle collapses so that 'some-thing' becomes 'sump'm'. It shows a hallmark of quick Jamaican speech: swallowing the internal consonants down to a hummed 'm', the same as 'hap'm' for happen. Meaning exactly the same as 'sinting', it does the plain work of 'something' — 'gi mi sump'm fi eat', give me something to eat — and it can also hint vaguely at a matter afoot. It is among the most common everyday words, in its most worn-down spoken form.
Examples
-
Mi waan tell yuh sump'm.
I want to tell you something.
-
Yuh have sump'm fi eat?
Do you have something to eat?
-
A sump'm deh pon mi mind.
There's something on my mind.
Origin
A compressed pronunciation of 'something' — 'some-thing' → 'sump'm', the '-thing' collapsing to a hummed 'm'. Compare 'hap'm' (happen).
How it’s used
A pronunciation variant of 'something'; same as 'sinting'. Illustrates Patois consonant-swallowing. See [[sinting]], [[happm]].