Sharing Our Guyanese Culture

The Guyanese Slang Alphabet was composed to reflect the various substituted words and short phrases used in daily conversations among Guyanese. It is created to cause a sustainable effort along Guyana’s Literacy Pathway, so that in our sojourn we do not lose sight and forget our ancestral cultural habits, customs and inheritances. It seeks to reappraise and preserve aspects of a rich cultural historical heritage. It brings to fore the primarily localized expressions used in Guyana.

 Guyanese are people identified with the country of Guyana. It is located on the northern coast of South America and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname. Geographically, it is part of the South American mainland. It however bears much similarity to the nearby island nations of the Caribbean such as Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada with respect to culture and cultural activities. In fact, Guyana is considered a Caribbean country even though it is not an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea, as are other Caribbean nations.

 In Guyana, there is a dominant mix of African and Indian dialects, to a lesser extent Portuguese, Indigenous and some remnants of the Dutch persuasion. Over the years it was somewhat amazing that slang was not displaced and has now played a significant role in life’s journey. Albeit, this is what motivated and propelled me to venture into research and accumulate a comprehensive list of words and phrases causing me to produce and compile from A to Z, my interpretation of The Guyanese Slang Alphabet.

Undoubtedly, this collection does not include every slang word or phrase that exists, but it contains some of the ones most widely used in Guyana, yesteryear and today. Surely it is within the frequently used slang words that a person could truly express his / her innermost feelings.

It should be noted that slang words are all rooted in an oral tradition speech pattern. In the past, scholars have been somewhat reluctant to record a comprehensive collection. There is no standard orthography for the transcriptions, as meanings change depending on the context. However, in the absence of a standard for Creole slang, the author found it important to document this aspect of our rich Guyanese culture.

Although there have been multiple mediums of cultural expressions of slang and lingo, Guyanese are identified and labeled as they travel and adopt residence in all parts of the world. It is hoped that all Guyanese regardless of race, color or creed will find solace and interest in The Guyanese Slang Alphabet.