Haiti
to talk nonsense
Standard French would say dire des bêtises, or dire n'importe quoi. Haiti has a blunter verb for it.
5 idioms and 8 regionalisms
Caribbean French idioms and expressions
Saint-Domingue rose in 1791 and became Haiti in 1804, the first country to throw off France and the only one ever born of a successful slave revolt. Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana (on the South American mainland, but Caribbean in every other sense) stayed, and have been French départements since 1946. Everywhere here the everyday language is Creole, built from seventeenth-century French words on a grammar of its own, while French belongs to school and the courtroom. Haiti made Creole official alongside French in 1987. Fewer than one Haitian in ten speaks French fluently. So the idioms travel. Haiti's derrière les montagnes, il y a des montagnes is the proverb dèyè mòn gen mòn in its Sunday clothes, and canari, in the Antillean entries below, is the everyday word for a cooking pot from Fort-de-France to Pointe-à-Pitre. The French comes with the Creole music still in it: softer r's, and a rhythm all its own.
Haiti
celui qui frappe oublie, celui qui porte la marque se souvient
“the one who strikes forgets, the one who bears the mark remembers”
the person who causes harm forgets it, but the victim never does
This Haitian proverb ('bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje' in Creole) warns that those who hurt others tend to move on, while the wounded carry the memory forever.
Martinique
Guadeloupe
French Guiana
chacun prépare sa propre mort
“each person prepares their own death”
each person makes their own drink to taste
This Antillean saying refers to the tradition of serving ti punch: the host provides rum, lime, and cane syrup, and each guest mixes their own glass to their liking.
GuadeloupeMartinique
chacun sait ce qui bout dans son canari
“each person knows what boils in their canari (Creole word for cooking pot)”
only you truly know your own business
This Antillean proverb means that nobody knows your situation better than you do, only you know what's really going on in your life.
Haiti
a cooking pot
A chaudière is a boiler in France, the household heating kind. Haiti uses the same word for an everyday cooking pot, what standard French calls a marmite.
Haiti
Quebec
overpriced
Something that costs too much is hors de prix in standard French. In Quebec and Haiti it is chérant.
Haiti
to show disrespect to someone
There is no single verb for this in standard French: it says manquer de respect à quelqu’un instead. Haiti has its own straightforward verb for the same thing.
Haiti
derrière les montagnes, il y a des montagnes
“behind the mountains, there are mountains”
after one challenge, another always follows
This Haitian proverb ('dèyè mòn gen mòn' in Creole) reflects the resilience of a people familiar with hardship: once you overcome one obstacle, expect another.
Haiti
Belgium
SwitzerlandCanada
Congo-Kinshasa
Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Occitanie
to have your midday meal
In standard French you déjeuner at midday and dîner in the evening. Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and parts of France keep dîner for the midday meal, which is the older sense.
Haiti
cheeky
Haiti uses fréquent for a person who is cheeky, showing no respect for others. Standard French keeps the word for something that just happens often.
Haiti
si la mer bouillait, il y aurait bien des poissons de cuits
“if the sea boiled, there would be plenty of fish cooked”
said to dismiss idle speculation about what might happen
Standard French says avec des si, on mettrait Paris en bouteille. Haiti boils the sea instead, and the fish come out cooked.
Haiti
news passed on by word of mouth
News gets around by le bouche-à-oreille in standard French. In Haiti it travels by télégueule.
Haiti
un sac vide ne tient pas debout
“an empty sack does not stand upright”
you can't function without basic necessities
This Haitian proverb teaches that a person cannot work or think properly without food and basic resources, just as an empty sack cannot stand on its own.