I am having a tattoo done. Would “Live : Laugh : Love” be...”ap viv (or just viv): ri: renmen”Thanks!

Just “viv” is ok.

"Viv – Ri – Renmen" is just perfect.

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

Nouvel nan bon ti manmit

Nan bon ti mamit
Accurate, concrete

We say mamit or manmit

Nouvel nan bon ti manmit
Accurate or trusted news

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Abse mete sou klou

abse mete sou klou (sometimes we say apse instead of abse; and sometimes we say met instead of mete) - to add insult to injury; a bad situation has become worse.

We say:
Se apse met sou klou (literally an abscess on top of a  blister)
Se abse mete sou klou (literally an abscess on top of a  blister)
Se klou sou maklouklou (literally a blister on top of a hydrocele)

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What is pase nan je zegwi and also what’s bakoulou?

"Pase nan je zegwi" (lit. to go through the eye of a needle) – to go/jump through hoops,  to go through a difficult situation
egzanp:

Bòs mwen ap fè m pase nan je zegwi.

Se nan je zegwi m’ap pase nan travay la.

Bakoulou is a charlatan, a con artist who does not do well with the ladies.

  

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Madanm. I keep hearing "fi a" ak "fi an" in conversations. Which form of this is more prevalent?

Bonswa Mesye Rachal,

Yes you are right.  “fi a” is more prevalent. Some people from certain regions tend use nasal vowels especially with words ending in “i” ….zanmi, fanmi, mi, fi, etc …..

And one of the reasons for this is they’ll do that if the preceding syllable has a nasal  sound like fanmi, zanmi, kanni, ranni, etc…..

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what is pe kou?

I'm not sure. It's very hard to figure it out when taken out of its context.  Maybe you can send the sentence it was used in. thanks.
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

What is fanm masay? Is their work voodoo related?

Sounds like a masseuse.
A fanm masay may perform some sort of ceremony before she massages you (anvan li rale w).  Usually they work on things like sprained ankle, displaced joints, back alignments, etc....
I had once sprained my ankle, and my dad took me to a 'fanm masay'.  First of all he was a man.  So maybe we should say 'gason masay'.  The man did do a few things before he started working on my foot.  He burned three pebbles in some ashes along with a sour orange.  He took the first pebble and drew a cross on my foot and threw that first pebble over his left shoulder, he did the same thing with the second pebble and threw that over his right shoulder. The third pebble, he threw over his head after he drew the third cross on my foot.  At the time I was thinking "Whoa! did my dad see that!?"  My dad was a pastor and preached against vodou all the time.  But he was right there watching and said nothing.  So I guessed it is just something they do. At last the man cut the hot baked orange in half, poured some oil on my foot and started pulling on my foot.  The orange was very hot and my foot hurt really bad, I was screaming.  I must have fainted 'cause I sincerely don't remember what happened after that.  I don't remember having the pain after that either.

These people don't go to massage school but the good ones are said to have that unusual gift of knowing how to fix you 'straight' again.  I do believe that they learn what they do from a 'master masseuse' or something :) There aren't too many of them.

My haitian girlfriend misreads the things that I say a lot. Quite often it may be a simple gesture or a sentence that gets reworded into the opposite of what it is. Does that have to do with haitan culture?

You think it's possible that a specific group of people or culture tend to misinterpret spoken words and SIMPLE gestures? That's unlikely.  It's true that some cultures understand some gestures differently, but it sounds like you and your girl  may be "out of sync" ...I may be wrong about this :-\

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

Mwen ap mande kesyon mwen nan Creole. koubyen tan mwen pral fe pou aprann lang Haitien Creole an?

Dapre sa m remake, chak moun ki ap aprann lang lan gen pwòp rezon pa yo.  Genyen se misyonè yo ye, genyen se nan zafè lasante y’ap travay, gen moun se kontra travay yo pral ranpli Ayiti, e genyen tou se zafè menaj yo y’ap regle. Donk m panse rezon ki fè ou aprann lang lan se li menm ki va detèminen  valè tan w’ap envesti pou metrize lang lan tou.  Resous ou genyen a dispozisyon ou kapab deside valè tan li va pran pou w soti depi “A” rive jiska “Z”.

Pafwa, yon moun poze kalite kesyon sa a (yo bezwen konnen konbyen tan l’ap pran yo pou pale Kreyòl), paske yo petèt te panse li t’ap pran yo mwens tan, ou byen yo gen dwa koumanse dekouraje paske yo pase anpil tan ap aprann, enpi lang yo lou toujou.  Si se sitiyasyon w sa, li ka byen bon pou chanje metòd w’ap aprann nan.  Chache mete tèt ou nan anviwònman ki ap pi enteresan pou ou – Antoure tèt ou nèt ak lang Kreyòl la.  Keseswa se jounal, televizyon, radyo, zanmi, legliz, kondisip travay, liv, etc….  Kwè m si w vle, anvan w bat je w, n’ap batize w AYISYEN :)

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Is there another name for fried plantains other than banan frit?

fried plantains - bannann fri oubyen bannann peze

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

Science fiction lovers

If you love science fiction, do take the time to visit Escape Pod - The story featured this week, Into the Breach, is written by the author Malon Edwards and narrated by yours truly.  The story's got everything, action, drama, ....and a 'little bit' of H. Creole.
Here's a link: Into The Breach

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

pye sa m te manje m pa’t ba w

"pye sa m te manje m pa’t ba w" is an expression that's Haitians use to say that they were running for their lives. I guess it means something like feet don't fail me now.

When we use this expression, we say:
Lè mwen wè koulèv la, mwen di, "pye sa m te manje m pa't ba w!".  Mwen kouri ale. - When I saw the snake I said, "Feet don't fail me now!".  I ran.
But if you wanted to break this down, you'll have:
Pye, sa mwen te manje mwen pa te ba ou. (not in a contracted form)
Pye, sa'm te manje m pa't ba'w. (the expression)
Feet, what did I eat and I didn't share with you.
Basically, asking your feet not to fail you.  You've taken good care of your feet, feeding it well.  Now you need to run for your life.

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I have a few questions from church yesterday. What is otonde lamizik? Maybe something like syncopate? Does griyen dan mean to laugh? Does it mean anything else? What is dyak, or maybe it's djak? The woman used it in referring to receiving prayer for healing. Thanks!

“otonde lamizik” (or “au ton de la musique” in French) – to the pitch/tune of the music

Dyak – deacon

Yes, “griyen dan” means to laugh, to laugh satirically, to joke or clown around

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

can you explain the meaning behind fet an kwaf?

Kwaf – caul

Fèt ak kwaf – to be born with a caul over one’s head and face

Such a person is considered to be lucky in life. They are very intuitive.  In the region I’m from, they say these people can see ghosts or sense things that others can’t

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"tout jwet se jwet kochet pa ladan’l" when can you use this?

Tout jwèt se jwèt kòchèt pa ladan’l – Everything is funny (or everything is a game) until someone starts breaking the law.  Or No dirty trick.  Or Roguishness is not part of the game.

You can use it to say that things have gone too far, that things are turning ugly.

 

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