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ISLAND JARGON

Barbadians have a lively, colourful way of expressing themselves. It's mixture of local idiom with a bit of British and African influence. The dialect may seem like another language when you first arrive, but if you ask locals to speak slowly you will catch on without much problem.

A few tips about the dialect. Local phrasing and usage often involves 'short cuts' in speech, the most common and obvious of this is clipping off the last consonant of words. 'Helping' verbs are rarely used, so you would hardly hear "I am going". Instead you would hear "I gone, hear?"

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• Bajan - what people lucky enough to be from Barbados like to call ourselves, and what everyone else in the world wants to be; the adjective used to describe Mount Gay Rum.

• Bruggadung - the sound of a fall

• Cafuffled - confused, bewildered. What you are if you choose anything other than the very best; Mount Gay Rum!

• Doin' Dixie - if you're the life of the party you'll definitely be "doin' dixie! Having a real good time and dancing up a storm

• Gap - not a space between your teeth, but rather the Bajan way of saying "street" eg I gine up the gap li'l bit (I'm going up the street for a while)

• Gully-boar - person with no class. This is obviously something that anyone who enjoys the fine taste of Mount Gay rum could never be

• Kadooment - fun and good times, the name of Barbados' biggest carnival, always held the first Monday in August

• Mini moke - a small, open car that's perfect for getting from beach to beach in Barbados

• Pompasettin' - you'll definitely be doing this (showing off) if you've got a bottle of Mount Gay Extra Old

• Rumbustuous - the word coined in Barbados which probably described the way settlers felt afer a few shots of rum - in very good spirits (no pun intended) and full of life

• Skettel - a girl who's maybe not so nice, so you should probably wait to share your Mount Gay Sugar Cane Brandy with someone else

• Stepney - one that you probably won't hear anywhere else, which means a spare tire

• Wukkin' up - a high energy, gyrating dance that could probably get you arrested most places outside the Caribbean