Gassa

In a May blog post, I mentioned Patois – also known here as Creole or Kwéyòl (click here for a PDF Kwéyòl to English dictionary) – and then in June I wrote about being called “white boy“.

A couple weeks ago, we were facilitating a train-the-trainer meeting on the pilot program we ran in a secondary school focused on preventing sexual exploitation. Skits were used in the pilot and we were pleased to hear a skit written locally for the program.  That was when I first noticed hearing people being referred to as ‘gassa’.  Turns out ‘gassa’ is from the Kwéyòl word ‘gason’ which comes from the French word ‘Garçon’ which means ‘boy’ in English. 

Today I noticed men calling each other ‘gassa’ during conversation and that’s when it hit me – being called ‘boy’ isn’t necessarily derogatory in St. Lucia. This of course got me thinking about being called ‘white boy’ on Jeremie Street in Castries.

Earlier in my three-month St. Lucian life, I came across this video and didn’t understand much of it – now I get it. But jeesh, I will never get used to the extended hissing kiss sound.  Men should never do that to women – like never.

I’ll end this post now with a song that is currently popular here about ‘wining’ and ‘ducking’.

Bonnapwémidi gassa!