Wednesday, August 1, 2012

I speak creole, but I still don't understand why machann kann or machann pwason are insults. Can you go more in depth lol?

Unfortunately to some Haitians, if you're not behind a desk crunching numbers, if you're not a doctor, engineer, or architect, then you're in the wrong profession.  Machann, especially, take a beating along with other considered lowly professions in Haiti.

If you've ever been to Haiti and browsed through the fish section of a market where flies, maggots and the smell of fish are hard to ignore then you'll know why machann pwason is an easy target for insults.

If you've ever been to Haiti and seen a machann kann struggling to push his heavy wooden cart around so he can sell a peeled kann for just two pennies, then you'll know why machann kann is used as insult.

People tend to forget that any professions where you make an honest living is an honorable profession.  So please do remind people of that the next time you hear them use a profession as an insult.  I know I certainly will.
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

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