Concerning our favorite Jamaican/Irish TV psychic. . .

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

I’ve noticed that Miss Cleo usually pronounces the pronoun “for” as “fee,” as in “Whacha waitin’ fee?” and “He really knocked ya fee a loop.” Is that a common mispronunciation in Jamaican or other Caribbean accents?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Funny, she doesn’t look Irish…

Well, I’ve been having a good time this morning puttering around on Google, looking at Jamaican dialect websites, and not surprisingly, my WAG to the OP is gonna be “no”.

However, I did find some kewl stuff.

This website will play 4 cute lil clips of Jamaican dialect, none of which sound remotely like Miss Cleo (they actually sound more like Whoopi Goldberg in whatever movie that was, where she was the housekeeper…)

http://www.atasteofjamaica.com/greeting.htm

And while I was browsing, I stumbled across this. Remember the unholy flap, for about 15 minutes?

http://www.visalaw.com/99nov/53nov99.html

GOVERNMENT PAMPHLET IN FAKE DIALECT OFFENDS MANY

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) set out to inform Haitian-Americans of their rights and responsibilities as residents of federally subsidized housing, and planned to publish a document in Creole, the dominant Haitian dialect. Despite these good intentions, the document that was published was written in a fake Jamaican dialect. Here is a sample of the pamphlet: “Yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn di rispansabilities to elp mek yuh HUD-asisted owzing ah behta owme fi yuh ahn yuh famibly.”

Critics say that not only is the pamphlet insulting, it reveals a deep ignorance about the languages spoken by Caribbean immigrants. Haitian Creole is based on French, while Jamaicans read and write standard English. The Jamaican dialect of the pamphlet is spoken only. After the pamphlet was translated and returned to HUD, a HUD official approved its publication, saying, “To the best of my knowledge this appears to be a Haiti-type Creole.” HUD admits it should have sought external review of the translation and has apologized for any offense, but has not called the publication of the pamphlet a mistake.

[screech-owl]

…Whoopi Goldberg in whatever movie that was, where she was the housekeeper…

Corrina in Corrina, Corrina

[caircair]

I admit I’ve long suspected Miss Cleo was a heckuvan actress. For one thing, I notice she mixes pronoun tenses “and you know about she, right?”. I have never heard anyone from the Caribbean do that.

Mostly, I just listen and think “interesting accent. But even I can do a better one!”

Reminds me of J.Z. Knight and Ramtha. Whenever Ms. Knight went into her trance and Ramtha emerged, again, my thought was “Even I can do a better East Indian accent!”

No, I’m not saying they’re faking…exactly…but I admit I am suspicious.

[gigi]

*Originally posted by caircair *
I admit I’ve long suspected Miss Cleo was a heckuvan actress. For one thing, I notice she mixes pronoun tenses “and you know about she, right?”. I have never heard anyone from the Caribbean do that.

I think this is a legitimate speech pattern; here’s part of the Bob Marley tune “Redemption Song”:
 
Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit

I believe I’ve heard it from other Caribbean people, too.

[The_Punkyova]

Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit

Actually, this is not Jamaican, per se, but Rastafarian. For reasons too complex to go into, Rastas regard “I” as a powerful letter and word. Rastas will thus often use I for all first-person pronouns. “I and I” means “we” where both parties are Rasta. Upstairs, somewhere, I have a book on Rastafarian linguistics that I picked up at the University of the West Indies bookstore in Kingston. Very interesting.

Also, from the OP:

I’ve noticed that Miss Cleo usually pronounces the pronoun “for” as “fee,” as in “Whacha waitin’ fee?”

and from the HUD pamphlet, courtesy of Duck Duck Goose

"Yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn di rispansabilities to elp mek yuh HUD-asisted owzing ah behta owme fi yuh ahn yuh famibly.”

An example almost instantly! This is actually quite common in spoken Jamaican.

[Dr_Paprika]

I think this thread is a prime example of jealousy. You’re just bitter that you lack the ability to see into the PRESENT. “Why, yes, I did just lose my job!”