Jamaican Sayings

We have a lot of sayings in Jamaica. I will just touch on one of them; "When faight de tawk lit yu pipe."

This saying is linked to one that goes, "When yu argue wid an ijiot it is hard to member who de ijot."

In the first, the meaning is a bit obscure, but it means when a fool talks you light your pipe, in other words, ignore them.

The second is a bit clearer; it means if you are arguing with a ijot (idiot or fool) there comes a point that you don't know which one is the fool.

Both sayings are used when one is trying to explain something to someone who has no capacity to understand.

It is like trying to tell someone that the person they came to see at this building is not there, but they decide to climb five flights to knock on the office. How many times are you going to try to explain that the person isn't there? You shrug, you light your pipe.

If you keep arguing, what's the point? You just look ridiculous.

I suppose it ties into that Biblical statement where; "It is given to you to know, it is not given to them."