GLOSSARY
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| These two girls are wearing Death Star asobi for a wedding |
alkalo: The head of the village.
aparante: The guy who collects the fare for a gelle
asobi : Hideous fabric purchased for any sort of ceremony or celebration. The fabric is bought by all the attendees and is sometimes even tailored in the same style. It is bad luck to wear your asobi outfit prior to the event.
ataya (attaya) : There's a special procedure for brewing attaya, so I recommend clicking on the link and watching a video. Otherwise, all I can say is it's green tea with heaps of sugar, and then you might picture something like this.
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| Banjul as seen from the July 22 Arch |
bantaba: A platform for sitting on, usually under a tree, usually crowded with elderly men.
Basse : A larger town with a Peace Corps transit house. I go here to use the internet, visit the bank, eat food with a fork, etc.
benichin: A tasty rice dish in which everything (rice, seasoning, onions, possibly other vegetables, less possibly bits of chicken) is cooked together with heaps of oil. YUM.
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| Sinni is holding a bowl of benichin. And wearing a compelet. |
bidong : A yellow, plastic, 20 litre container of vegetable oil. Usually no longer filled with vegetable oil.
bitik: A small shop. Usually so small that only the shop keeper is actually inside the shop; the customer stands outside while the money and purchases (bread, matches, chewing gum) are exchanged through the window.
bumster: Creepy dude hoping to attract some white woman who, after swooning at the sight of his sexy push-ups, will throw money at him.
compelet: An outfit, usually with the same fabric for the skirt, shirt and headwrap. Mandinkas call it a "completo."
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| My corrugate fence. |
cous: Not cous-cous. Cous is something less fluffier and with a closer resemblance to sand. I've grown to love it, though, especially with the leaf sauce.
dalasi: The Gambian currency.
domoda: A peanut sauce poured over rice.
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| An exercise book |
football : What I would call soccer.
Fula: In American-English, this would refer only to the people, who are traditionally cattle-herders. In British-English, Fula is also the name of the languge. I live in a Fula village.
gele (gelly, gellie, gelle...I think I've tried spelling this word a dozen ways. the 'g' is hard, by the way). I think the guide books call this a bush taxi. "Bush taxi" sounds exotic and fun. A gelle is not. It's a beat-up van crammed with a couple dozen people)
genie (jinni): Again, the encyclopedia will tell you more than I can. All I know is they can steal souls.
groundnuts: I guess any nut that grows in the ground is a groundnut, but Gambians speaking English are only referring to peanuts.
icees: Take a small plastic sandwich bag, the kind without a Ziplock, the kind too small to actually fit a sandwich. Fill it with juice. Stick it in a freezer.
imam: In charge of leading prayers and such. I'm not going to pretend I know more than that.
Janjangbureh (Janjangbury, Jangjangbureh, etc): I used to worry about the correct spelling until I went through the town and paid particular attention to each sign displaying the town's name. I realized: there is no correct spelling.
kola nut : A multi-purpose nut. Want to marry me? Give my father a bunch of kola nuts. Want to move to a new village? Give the alkalo some kola nuts. Want to stay awake? Chew some kola nuts.
Kombos (Kombo) : Click on the link if you want actual geographical information. The Kombos refers to several districts (hence the plural) but most Gambians will just refer to Kombo, and that's what I tend to do too. If I say I'm in Kombo, it means I'm far away from my village, probably in an air conditioned room and probably with plans to eat a hamburger later in the day.
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| A konkoran. |
Mandinka: The language most commonly spoken in The Gambia (but not really anywhere else). I, however, can speak only a couple of phrases.
marabou: "Medicine man" is the phrase that comes to mind. It was a marabou who concocted the special dirt that keeps snakes out of my backyard.
minty: Any candy, mint-flavored or otherwise.
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| Baby Musa at his naming ceremony. |
panketos: Fried dough balls that are never as crispy as I'd like them.
Pulaar: The language I'm learning to speak!
Ramadan: A month of fasting.
Senegambia: Does not refer to the geographical region composed of Senegal and The Gambia. Rather, refers to a section of Kombo with lots of tourists, restaurants, nightclubs, etc.
Serrehule: An awesome-sounding language spoken by the Serrehules. I know exactly three words of Serrehule.
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| This map is clearly labeled. In pencil. |
Tobaski : Click on the link and Encyclopedia Britannica will tell you real information. All I can tell you is...YOU GET TO EAT MEAT!
Toubab: Or more accurately, Toubab!, because it's always used as an exclamation, much in the same tone of voice that I would shout Deer! or Chipmunk! if I were walking through the woods (in America) and happened to see a deer or a chipmunk. The word refers to any foreigner, and is shouted in the hopes the toubab will hand over some candy or some dalasis or the watch around her wrist.
Tostan : The Tostan program is finished in my village now, but while it was there I'd attend meetings to greet the women and practice my Pulaar.
Wolof: A language spoken a lot in Kombo and in Dakar. Luckily they also speak English in Kombo. Unluckily, they also speak French in Dakar.
