A Dictionary of Guyanese Words and Expressions

Book excerpt: Guyanese Creole bears the heavy living cargo of the histories of the many peoples who came and were forcibly brought to Guyana. Our language contains living reminders of the places from which we came, the cultures from which we hail, and the multiple intersections of these once-separate variables. In Guyana Creolewe see the contentiousness that comes when different peoples are placed in antagonistic relations with each other. It also records our togetherness and how we relate to each other to forge a nation from the flotsam and jetsam of our history.Guyanese Creole is a constant and living reminder of how we became one nation despite the odds and in spite of extant apparent differences. Our language is the embodiment of our past and our present and it has the capacity to envelope the future. This Dictionary of Guyanese Words and Expressions is the most comprehensive work in the history of Guyana. Even so, because all living languages – and Guyanese Creole is a living language – evolve, Guyana Creole is ceaselessly evolving. As comprehensive as is this dictionary, the work will always be unfinished. This Dictionary will be of interest to all Guyanese at home and abroad.