Vocabulary
Vocabulary is widely influenced by British vocabulary, due to centuries of association with Great Britain. Examples:
- Bonnet refers to the hood of a car.
- Chips refers to French Fries. However, fries is commonly used as well.
- Form is used instead of the American high school grade. (7th Grade-1st Form; 11th Grade-5th Form)
- Car park instead of parking lot.
- Patty for flaky folded pastry, unlike the American patty, meaning hamburger patty.
- Mongrel is used instead of the US mutt.
- Biscuit is used instead of the US cookie.
However, in other cases the American form prevails over the British one, due to the islands' close proximity to the United States:
- Apartment is used instead of the British flat.
- Elevator' instead of the British lift.
Because of the influx of other Caribbean nationals to Antigua, due to natural migration and to the CSME, Antigua's everyday vocabulary is being influenced by Jamaican Creole, bajan Creole, Guyanese Creole and Trinidadian Creole. This is even more common among the youth. Examples:
- Yute and star meaning young man.
- Breda (derived from Brethren and Partner) meaning close friend.
- Sell off meaning excellent or very good.
Read more about this topic: Leeward Caribbean Creole English
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“One forgets words as one forgets names. One’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“[T]here is no breaking out of the intentional vocabulary by explaining its members in other terms.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)