Lexicon (sneak preview 2)

More of my personal Lexicon. Do it Professor!


D

Do you see the light? (American English)
First used in 1982. Famous line spoken by James Brown in the 1980 Film The Blues Brothers.

Draw ‘pon this Chalice (Caribbean source)
First used in 1983. Spoken by a Rasta man in the 1980 Film Babylon. If I see someone smoking on a bong or a hookah pipe these words come to mind.

Duppy (Caribbean/African source)
First used in 1979. My Grandfather loved to tell us ghost stories and his description of a Duppy scared me the most. When I feel something spooky is going on I explain that a Duppy is near. Today I try to scare as many young children as I can with ghost stories


F

Flim (Caribbean source)
First used in 1976. My mother always says Flim instead of Film. Along with Picture show and the movies it makes meal feel nostalgic for the days when I first discovered the magic of the cinema.


G

Go long bout your bisness (Anglo Rasclot)
First used in 1991. A rebuke. Used mostly to encourage wasps to leave my presence.

Graveyard (English)
First used in 1985. At a crit during my first year at Maidstone College for no reason I can remember I exaggerated the word Graveyard when I explained the ideas behind my work. This pronunciation was adopted by a couple of my peers and it stuck.

Grim Reaper (the Reaper) (English)
First used in 1986. Another Maidstone inspired term. I once spied said Reaper outside my halls of residence. It was very frightening and I have been watching for his return ever since.


H

Hoof (Caribbean source)
First used in 1982. A leg.

Hoof Cover (Caribbean source)
First used in 1986. Shoes.

Hoof Slips (Caribbean source)
First used in 1986. Socks.

Horse head (English)
First used in 1987. My Friend Angus Mewse used these words often to refer to a decorative ornament of a large horses head. It became a regular saying along with Fish head and Hard Sheep. I believe the Horse head may also refer to the 1972 film The Godfather where a horse’s head is placed in the bed of its owner to send a message from the Mafia.


I

“I had to go to Reggie’s Jerry, Reggie’s” (American English)
First used in 2001. Quote from the Seinfeld episode ‘The Pool Guy’. George screams this during a performance in a cinema.

Is these your feces? (Anglo Rasclot)
First used in 1982. When I worked as a cleaner in my youth one of my colleagues pressed me into a toilet cubical to ask me if the feces floating in the wc belonged to me. I was shocked and made it clear that I always flushed the toilet after used it. It made me laugh afterwards.