Anguilla’s dialect is English based, so it will sound familiar and be easily understood by other English speakers. There are many words and phrases, however, which require some more in-depth translating.
Here are ten things you may hear in Anguilla which have very specific meanings in the national dialect.
LIME
One of the most common words you’ll hear in Anguilla, ‘to lime’ is a verb which means to go out to events or hang with friends in a public place. It can also be used as a noun ‘we goin’ on a lime’.
AYUH LAWD
Sometimes abbreviated to the outburst ‘ayuh’, this common Anguillian idiomatic expression is used as a term of exclamation or surprise. You will hear it employed in the same way standard English speakers say, ‘Oh my gosh’.
AYOU
This second person plural pronoun is abundant in Anguillian dialect. It is a contraction of ‘all of you’ and used in the same manner as ‘y’all’ in southern American English and the British colloquialism ‘you lot.
SHEEP DON’T BRING GOAT
You will hear this Anguillian adage (which means one cannot expect children to differ vastly from their parents) used in the same manner as the standard English ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’.
FORE DAY MORNING
This phrase is used to refer to the time of day before the sun rises. Since Anguillian dialect lacks rhoticity (sounding the middle ‘r’) and is characterised by broadened vowels, ‘morning’ will sound more like ‘mawning’.
’WHA’ YOU SAYIN’?
When someone wants to inquire as to the wellbeing of a friend in Anguillian dialect, they will use this phrase. It is a casual way to ask, ‘How are you?’ and used in informal settings similar to the standard English ‘What’s up?’
SAFE
While standard English sees this word used as either an adjective meaning ‘protected’ or a noun meaning ‘a complexly locked cabinet to store valuables’, it takes on another meaning in Anguillian dialect.
You will hear ‘safe’ used as a response to a query into one’s wellbeing or as an affirmative reply to a request. For example: ‘How are you?’ ‘I safe’ This can loosely translate to ‘I’m alright’ with its origin likely rooted in the standard English concept of the word meaning to be free from harm.
DISGUSTING
While this may appear to be a familiar word to speakers of standard English, in Anguillian dialect the word ‘disgusting’ is used to describe something annoying or irritating.
Notably, it is pronounced with a voiced alveolar fricative, sounding more like ‘dizguzting’. ‘Dat boy disgusting bad’ would be Anguillian dialect for ‘He is so annoying.
WINE
This word is a homonym in Anguillian dialect referring to both the alcoholic beverage as well as taking on a more physical meaning referencing the gyration of the waist during dancing.
You can catch people winin’ anywhere you find a dance floor or great music. If you are on island during the Anguilla Summer Festival, you will see many people take to the streets with their best wine for J’ouvert and Parade of Troupes.
DRESS OVER
If you hear someone using this phrase in Anguilla, don’t be confused. It simply means to move to create space for someone (usually to sit), the same as ‘scoot down’ or ‘move over’ in standard English
