The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128947   Message #2890866
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
20-Apr-10 - 05:07 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
Besides local English, there are plenty of straight borrows from American, Jamaican, and Hindi (probably some through older cant, I'd guess).

For example, this "RAAAAHS" is just short for Jamaican 'ras-claat' (literally, a cloth soiled with body excretions), though in this use it is just like exclaiming "Hot Dang!"

Pukka is the old British-in-India word, from Hindi "proper" (fully-cooked)

Deekin' must be from the Romany (ultimately Indo-Aryan, cf. Hindi 'dekh') 'dik' - to look/see.