Jamaican. I was a kid, and my obsession with languages and dialects started when I heard Jamaican people speak Jamaican. My mom and I lived next to some for a while. Someone was always playing music. People were always outside over there. I felt safe as a kid. But why am I typing all of this? If I’m right about my readers, I think most of you have ADHD. Maybe that’s a way we connect, but also maybe you appreciate the challenge. The challenge of decoding a way of writing where the author grips brevity by the mane in every sentence, never giving a single word more than is necessary for the reader to connect one point to another. Because ADHD people looove puzzles (imagine my head tilting back). ESPECIALLY new ones!
But yeah, I don’t need to write anything here. If I’m right about you, you jumped to the audio first anyway. I’m not mad. I appreciate having my questions answered. It’s satisfying.
Because who has the stamina for unanswered questions? Like, what’s the difference in the edited version versus the unedited version? The difference is that I, a person with a YouTube account, appreciate the ability to partake in audio content in its polished version or in its raw version. And sometimes both!
The unedited version – to get back to the topic in a different paragraph to see clever – contains all pauses, rants, character breaks, and retakes. I’ve only enhanced the volume to match the other track. (Of course, I matched the volumes. I’m not an animal.)
Also, I like experiments. Experiments are puzzles wearing glasses. And we looove puzzles!
Jamaican 2026.02.12
Social Media Edit
TRANSCRIPTION
# Journal 2026.02.12 Jamaican (Social Media Edit)
[00:00:00] **Michael P Wright:** Patois, I've never talked about the significance of
[00:00:07] Patois and my love for languages and different ways of speaking the same languages dialects. That all started with Patois. I remember realizing those people are speaking English words. And I remember thinking, _let me give you a little context._
[00:00:37] _I grew up in Hartford, Connecticut until I was age nine. I grew up around the Puerto Rican parts and the Jamaican parts. _To get back to what I was saying, I remember realizing they're speaking English words.
[00:00:53] And then I remember wondering like why would they possibly be saying them like [00:01:00] that? W Why would-you know what I mean? How fi dance? Why would you choose an F sound instead of a w sound: 'how fi' dance? That's more work to say the F. And this is what I, this is what I started to realize:
[00:01:20] there are people in this world who make an art form out of the way they speak a language. That started with Patois. And the other second closest language next to English, was Puerto Rican Spanish. I went to school with Puerto Ricans. My elementary school was right next to
[00:01:46] bellevue Square or Beverly Square? I don't remember. I never remember seeing it written on anything. I only knew what it was called phonetically. Anyway I went to school with Puerto [00:02:00] Ricans one of my first crushes , who I would later connect to Vanity.
[00:02:07] I remember it was me, Timmy, and Tommy. They were twins. We used to walk back and forth from daycare to Elementary school. I went to my olive daycare and there's one Puerto Rican girl. Was either coming out or just like waiting on her porch or whatever for somebody. And her name was Jennifer.
[00:02:30] So at some point in our hollering over at her , she told us her name. So anyway, we would go back and forth, talk about which one she really liked and whatnot Puerto Rican. I learned to cuss on the way to or coming back from elementary school, I learned some of the Spanish cuss words.
[00:02:51] We didn't even have internet back then, so you had to know Spanish people. You had to- stop saying Spanish! I still think that's [00:03:00] derogatory to call Puerto Rican Spanish. That's also a Black people thing. We can't let that go to the next generation.
[00:03:08] We gotta kill that. 'cause that was always wrong. It was always wrong to call a Mexican person: spanish. Spanish, there are Spanish people because there's a country called Spain. Chances are you down here in Alabama. You know what I'm saying? Or you in you know the mean streets of-? The lowest parts of Hartford, Connecticut, you're probably gonna run into the most common Latino people.
[00:03:38] My fascination, I've never connected it back to anything. But it started somewhere. I was just thinking about that, and I like testing this thing out. So let me lemme try it again.
[00:03:50] I'm using the microphone again. The SmallRig, S70. I'll probably have a link below.
[00:03:57] it is so [00:04:00] uncomfortable. That's another journal entry I suppose. We talk about how many videos I've watched about how to YouTube, and so now it feels fake. It feel, it feels like even if it's a good idea, it feels phony, right? So I just want to make anything the way I want to make it.
[00:04:20] That's why this is not a video this time. This is a, an audio journal.
[00:04:27] Something else I forgot to add. I don't think I learned the word patois until I was an adult. So what we used to call it was Jamaican.
[00:04:38] We called it Jamaican. Which nobody seemed offended by. Who knows? Maybe there's some colonizer energy around the word, Patois . Who knows? But it seemed, at least on the surface, that _Jamaican_ was the preferred term for their language.
Jamaican 2026.02.12
Unedited
TRANSCRIPTION
# Journal 2026.02.12 Jamaican (Unedited)
[00:00:00] Patois, I've never talked about the significance of
[00:00:11] Patois and my love for languages and, and not just different languages, but just different ways of speaking the same languages di dialects. Languages. That all started with Patois. I remember realizing that those people are speaking English words. And I remember thinking, let me give you a little context.
[00:00:48] I was, I grew up in Hartford, Connecticut until I was age nine. Okay. And I grew up around the Puerto Rican parts and the Jamaican parts. So, uh, to [00:01:00] get back to what I was saying, uh, where was I? Where was I? Oh man. Find it, find it, find it. Uh, find it, find it. All right. So I was talking about, all right, Patois, um, I remember realizing they're speaking English words.
[00:01:21] And then I remember wondering like, why, why would they possibly be saying them like that? Why would you know what I mean? Healthy dance. Why would you, why would you possibly choose an F sound instead of a w? Sound Halfie dance? You? That's more work to say the F and then. And this is what I, this is what I started to realize.
[00:01:54] There are people in this world who make an art [00:02:00] form out of the way. They speak a language that started with Patois. And the, the other second closest language to me outside, you know, of course next to English, was Puerto Rican Spanish. Because I went to school with Puerto Ricans. Um, my, my elementary school was, was right next to, um, Beverly Square, what was it called?
[00:02:29] Bellevue Square or Beverly Square? I don't remember. I never remember seeing it written on anything. I only knew what it was called phonetically. Anyway, uh, I went to school with Puerto Ricans, you know, one of my first crushes. Who I would later somehow connect to Vanity. Maybe they had some, I don't remember what the little girl looked like.
[00:02:55] I remember it was me, Tommy, and uh, Timmy and [00:03:00] Tommy. They were twins. We used to walk back and forth from daycare. Two elementary school, right. I think I went to my olive daycare and there's one Puerto Rican girl. Was either coming out or just like waiting on her porch or whatever for somebody. And her name was Jennifer.
[00:03:22] So at some point, you know, and our hollering over at her and stuff, she told us her name. So anyway, we start, we would joke and stuff like that and go back and forth, talk about which one she really liked and whatnot, you know. Um, anyway, Puerto Rican, uh, I learned to cuss. I learned a cuss on the way to, on the way are coming back from elementary school, I learned some of the cuss words, the Spanish cuss words.
[00:03:54] You know, we listen, we didn't even have internet back then, so you had to know Spanish people. [00:04:00] You had to stop saying Spanish. I still think that's derogatory to call Puerto Rican Spanish. But, um, that's also a, a, a black people thing that black people have to stop. We can't let that go to the next generation.
[00:04:16] We gotta kill that. 'cause that was always wrong. It was always wrong to call a Mexican person. Spanish. Spanish, there are Spanish people because there's a country called Spain. Chances are you down here in Alabama. You know what I'm saying? Are you in like, you know the mean, Teresa? The, the, the lowest parts of Hartford, Connecticut, you're probably gonna run into the most common, uh, Latino people.
[00:04:48] You gotta stop calling them Spanish. Okay. Puerto Rican people. I lost my point, but, um, my fascination, I've never actually [00:05:00] connected it back to anything. But, uh, it did, it started somewhere and I was just thinking about that and so I thought, you know, I like testing this thing out. So let me, let me, uh, lemme try it again.
[00:05:13] I'm using the microphone again. The, uh, small rig, S 70. I'll probably have a link below.
[00:05:25] Oh man, it is so uncomfortable. Uh, that's another, that's another journal entry I suppose. We talk about how many videos I've watched about how to YouTube, and so now it feels fake. It feel, it feels like even if it's a good idea, it feels phony, right? So I, I just want to make anything the way I want to make it.
[00:05:50] That's why this is not a video this time. This is a, an audio journal.[00:06:00]
[00:06:07] Uh, something else I forgot to add. I, I don't think I learned the word patois until I was already an adult. So what we used to call it was Jamaican.
[00:06:23] We called it Jamaican. Which nobody seemed offended by who, who knows? Maybe there's some, some colonizer energy around the world, Patois who, who knows. But, uh, it seemed, it seemed, at least on the surface, that Jamaican was the preferred term for their language.