Saturday, May 4, 2013

I understand these "tet" expressions: tet kale, tet chaje, tet anba, tet cho, tet mato. Are there others?

Yes.  You know, In Creole,  there's always more  :)

tèt kwòt → women with extremely short hair (usually not a compliment to a woman)
tèt gridap → same as tèt kwòt

tèt kokolo (same as tèt kale)
tèt san kò → one who eats a lot but remains skinny or gaunt.  There's no evidence where the food goes.

tèt vire → dizziness
Mwen ge tèt vire.
I'm dizzy.

tèt nwè → die suddenly
Li mouri tèt nwè.
He died right then and there.

tèt koupe → very similar
Ti gason an sanble tèt koupe ak papa l.
The boy is a spitting image of his father.

tèt di → hard headed, stubborn
tèt frèt → calm
tèt poze → calm, with no worries
tèt ansanm → unity, teamwork
tèt kole → unity, alliance
tèt nèg → expensive
tèt kay → roof (of a house)
tèt mare → a Christian (equivalent to Toby Mac's "Jesus Freak"), or a poor person


Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

4 comments:

  1. My kids were saying "tet kale woch" alot this week.

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    Replies
    1. LOL.... Kids will be kids :)

      As a kid, I use to say that (tèt kale wòch or tèt kale bobis) to anyone who doesn't have hair.
      Do they also know the song:

      Tèt kale bobis
      men 10 kòb
      senkòb savon
      achte dlo pou lave l


      It's a song we sing whenever we see someone without hair.

      Delete
  2. So that's like "rock head" basically? :)

    They didn't sing the song (that I heard).

    -Shane

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