There are many aspects of the Jamaican culture that are much loved and celebrated. The country’s native tongue is one such feature that is loved and widely spoken of by most Jamaicans.

The Jamaican patois is exciting and expressive, making for a very animated language.

Because of the nature of Patois, mispronunciations are bound to happen, given that it is deeply intertwined with the English language. Let’s take a look at some common words Jamaicans often mispronounce or vocalise in a completely different way from the original word.

Bokkle – Yes, the correct word is bottle. But for Jamaicans it’s much easier to pronounce double (K) than that hard double (t).

Fambily – Family, yes many Jamaicans are guilty of this one, often adding a ‘b’ to the word family and placing a deep emphasis on the ‘b’.

Cerfiticket – Certificate is the correct word but, for some reason, Jamaicans keep getting the syllables mixed up with the ‘F’ and ‘T’ swapping places.

Swims – Well! This one here is a whole swap of the word. Trust me when I say you would not be able to get this one, unless you’re a Jamaican, of course. This word is not the patois plural of ‘swim’, this word actually means ‘shrimps’.

Fineral – Funeral is what Jamaicans are referring to here. Usually mispronounced by many Jamaicans, especially in rural areas.

Flim – Here is another popular one, ‘film’. Jamaicans will do what they do and before you know it the ‘L’ and ‘I’ have switched places.

Wrisk – ‘Wrist’ becomes ‘wrisk’ because some Jamaicans are of the view that a ‘T’ so close after an ‘S’ is not worth the suffering of trying to pronounce, so let the swapping begin ‘T’ out, ‘K’ in.

Sivere – Use it in a sentence please, “mi waan sivere di piece a lan’”. Survey is the word that is mispronounced in this case.

Wedda – Weather. In Jamaican patois, the use of the double D is a common replacement for ‘th’ in many words such as ‘bredda’ for ‘brother’.

Vylence – Means violence, a word many Jamaicans have decided that requires too much skills in the phonetic department to pronounce so as usually we have to make easier by replace the two vowels ‘io’ with one vowel, ‘y’, job done!

Smaddy – Somebody. But, like numerous other words in Jamaican patois, a lot of switching up has taken place.

Safity- This here is actually the word, ‘safety’. I don’t quite understand this one because, instead of shorten the syllable, an extra one is added. Sa-fi-ty!