# Kum Ba Yah

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 27, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208 "2005-10-27T21:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/1 "2005-10-27T21:51:14Z")

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Does this translate into anything? From any language? What?

What does itmean (if anything)?

“Make it stop”?  
“Give it a cookie” ?  
“Call my lawyer” ?  
“Get the phone” ?  
“Aloha” ?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/2 "2005-10-27T21:55:59Z")

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IIRC it’s possible it comes from the Southeastern U.S. dialect used by slaves in the 19th Century, and means ‘Come by here’. There might be an archive article on it, as I remember reading it somewhere. I’ll go look.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/3 "2005-10-27T21:58:43Z")

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[Here it is](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911a.html%22%5B/url).

> [@Cecil Adams](#):
>
> Kumbaya apparently originated with the Gullah, an African-American people living on the Sea Islands and adjacent coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. (The best known Sea Island is Hilton Head, the resort area.) Having lived in isolation for hundreds of years, the Gullah speak a dialect that most native speakers of English find unintelligible on first hearing but that turns out to be heavily accented English with other stuff mixed in.

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**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/4 "2005-10-27T21:59:45Z")

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[The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911a.html).

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/5 "2005-10-27T22:00:59Z")

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> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> [Here it is](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911a.html).

[Fixing link](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911a.html).

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kum-ba-yah/328208/6 "2005-10-27T22:02:04Z")

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> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> [Fixing link](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911a.html).

Okay… So **CurtC** beat me to it. 😛😉