Meaning
'Wanti-wanti cyaa get it, getti-getti nuh want it' — those who want a thing badly cannot get it, while those who already have it do not want it. Life's good things so often go to people who take them for granted, the proverb laments, while those who long and yearn for them go without. It is a wry, rueful reflection on the unfairness of fortune and the perversity of human desire — that wanting and having so rarely meet in the same hands — and it is quoted with a knowing sigh at the unequal, ironic way blessings are shared out.
Examples
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Mi woulda love di opportunity but it guh to smaddy who nuh care — wanti-wanti cyaa get it, getti-getti nuh want it.
I'd love the opportunity but it went to someone who doesn't care — the have-nots crave it, the haves don't.
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She waan pickney fi years an cyaa get, while nex one nuh business; wanti-wanti cyaa get it, getti-getti nuh want it.
She's wanted a child for years and can't, while another doesn't care; those who want can't get.
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Di one who need di work cyaa find none; wanti-wanti cyaa get it, getti-getti nuh want it.
The one who needs the work can't find any; want-it can't get it, get-it doesn't want it.
Origin
Built on reduplication: 'wanti-wanti' (one who keeps wanting) against 'getti-getti' (one who keeps getting) — the doubling stresses the constant, unfair mismatch between desire and possession.
How it’s used
One of the best-known Jamaican proverbs, used to lament that fortune is unequal — the eager go without while the indifferent are supplied.