Caribbean sayings, explained

Across the West Indies, a whole lesson often fits in a single line — a goat, a crab, a pot of coucou, a cockroach who should have stayed home. These are the sayings grandmothers, fishermen and market women have passed down for generations. Here is what they mean, and how they travel from island to island.

From the Pick Sense from Nonsense collection · Updated September 2026

One saying, many islands

The same proverb often turns up in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Haiti, each in its own voice. Nobody else sets them side by side. Start here:

• Empty bag can’t stand up 🇧🇧 🇯🇲 🇹🇹 🇭🇹 · said on 4 islands
• One hand can’t clap 🇧🇧 🇯🇲 🇹🇹 🇭🇹 · said on 4 islands
• Cockroach no business in fowl fight 🇯🇲 🇹🇹 🇧🇧 · said on 3 islands
• Every day is fishing day 🇧🇧 🇹🇹 · said on 2 islands

A taste from each island

A few favourites from each of our four collections. Every island keeps its own voice, so every island keeps its own calendar.

🇧🇧 Barbados

Mek sure better dan cock-sure.

Checking twice beats trusting your own confidence. (VOICE-PASS)

Champagne taste, but a mauby pocket.

Wanting the finest things on a mauby-drink budget — living beyond your means. (VOICE-PASS)

More Bajan sayings →

🇯🇲 Jamaica

Chicken merry, hawk deh near.

When the chicken is happiest, the hawk is closest. Good times are when you stop watching. (VOICE-PASS)

One one coco full basket.

One cocoa at a time fills the basket — small, steady effort adds up. (VOICE-PASS)

More Jamaican sayings →

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago

All skin teeth eh laugh.

Not every show of teeth is a smile. Not every smile is friendship. (VOICE-PASS)

Behind back is ‘Dog’, before face is ‘Mr. Dog’.

The one who flatters you to your face may call you worse behind your back. (VOICE-PASS)

More Trini sayings →

🇭🇹 Haiti

Pitit tig se tig.

A tiger’s cub is a tiger — children grow into what raised them. (VOICE-PASS)

Pye chat dous, men zong li move.

The cat’s paw is soft, but its claws are sharp. Gentle-looking isn’t harmless. (VOICE-PASS)

More Haitian sayings →

How to read a Caribbean saying

Start with the picture. The goat, the crab and the pot are real before they are symbols. If you can see the yard, the meaning follows.

Notice who it’s aimed at. Sayings are said sideways. The lesson is pointed at the monkey so nobody has to be told directly that they are wrong.

Don’t trust one spelling. They are written the way they are spoken, so the same saying can look different on every page.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between a saying and a proverb?

In everyday Caribbean speech the words are used interchangeably. Strictly, a proverb states a piece of wisdom in a complete sentence (“One hand can’t clap”), while a saying can also be a phrase or an expression (“champagne taste, mauby pocket”). This guide covers both.

Are Jamaican, Bajan and Trini sayings the same?

Many share a root, which is why the same picture turns up on several islands, but each island says it in its own voice and keeps plenty that are entirely its own. That is why we keep every island’s collection separate.

Why are so many Caribbean sayings about animals?

Because the lesson lands softer when it is aimed at a goat or a monkey instead of at you. The animal-parable style runs deep in West African storytelling, which the Caribbean inherited, and yard animals were part of daily life everywhere.

Why does the spelling change from source to source?

Caribbean sayings are written the way they are spoken, and speech differs from island to island and even village to village. “Cyaan”, “can’”, “cyah” and “can’t” are the same word in different mouths.

Sources & further reading: Izett Anderson & Frank Cundall, Jamaica Negro Proverbs and Sayings (1910) · G. Addinton Forde, De Mortar-Pestle (Barbados, 1987) · Richard Allsopp, A Book of Afric Caribbean Proverbs (2004) · University of the West Indies, Cave Hill · National Library of Jamaica