Languagle #87: Haitian Creole
Se rat kay ki manje kay
"It's the house rat that eats the house."
What it means
The worst damage comes from the inside. It isn't a rat from outside that destroys a house, but the one already living in it. Said of betrayal by someone trusted, such as a family member, friend or colleague.
How to say it
seh RAT KAI kee man-ZHEH KAI
Every letter is said, unlike in French. The j in manje is the s in 'pleasure'.
Word by word
- Se seh: it's
- rat kay rat kai: the house rat (kay, house)
- ki kee: that
- manje man-ZHEH: eats (from the French manger)
- kay kai: the house
Where it was found
In Haitian Creole a proverb is a pwovèb. This one is from pwoveb.net, a collection of Haitian proverbs.
Similar sayings
- English: Beware the enemy within
How to recognise Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole grew out of French, but it's spelled the way it sounds: k instead of c, w and y where French has oi or ill, ch for the sh sound, and è and ò for open vowels. Short words like se, li, mwen, nou, pa and ki are everywhere. In French spelling this proverb would start 'C'est le rat de la case'.
About the Haitian Creole language
Haitian Creole, or Kreyòl ayisyen, is spoken by around 12 million people: almost everyone in Haiti, and large communities in the United States, Canada and the Dominican Republic. It is the most widely spoken creole language in the world. It took shape in the 1700s in French colonial Saint-Domingue, and most of its words come from French, though its grammar is quite different. It has been an official language of Haiti, alongside French, since 1987, and is spelled as it sounds.
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