Roots Archives Forum

hi everyone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW6_wGnkKgM

this tune - again, wicked track but what is it about... what is "hog in a cocoa"... is someone putting bacon in their mug of hot chocolate...?

my interpretation so far -

all dem young girls / who no have no daddy
??? / you a look so maddy
add in a your milky / fi go dig out yu cocoa
drink mek yu happy / an den yu simmer down yu gravy...


?!!?!?!??!!?

all dem young gyal, who nuh have nobody (or daddy)
see one bwoy yah, you a look somebaddy (somebody)
all dem young gyal, who nuh have nobody
see one bwoy yah, you a look somebaddy
hog inna yuh minty, fi go rub out yuh coco
hog inna yuh minty, fi go rub out yuh coco
hog inna yuh minty, fi go dig out yuh coco
three plate (or peg) of ackee, an yuh fi simmer down yuh gravy.


"hog inna coco" is also called "hog inna minty"... the Joe White tune is more or less the same as the old mento tune.

i have no idea about the significance of the "one slice of breadfruit/two plate of ackee/once slice of coconut fi mi to rub inna curry", or Joe White's similar adaptation.


but the other stuff is more straightforward. first off, it's common to see "minty" as "mint tea" as they are phonetically the same. but, a minty is a small garden typically for growing herbs (and mint for tea..) and a few vegetables, space permitting. don't know about now, but many Jamaicans used to have them - especially country people.

the literal meaning: it's a hog, or pig in a garden, tearing things up and eating up the coco. coco is a yam-like vegetable that grows in the dirt, and not the 'cocoa' chocolate bean from the tree. same coco as in the old saying "one one coco fill a basket".

the Jamaican meaning: usually it means someone thoughtless coming in and mashing things up - often something valuable and carefully looked after. i'd guess it often has a sexual association... the classic "Joe Grind" situation where s man is messing with another man's wife or sweetheart.

but it can be used for all sorts of situations.

This made me think of the phrase "Bull in a China Sop"....and oddly enough, according to the Discovery channel's website:

""This myth has been on record since the early 1800s — it was even captured in a dance-hall song. If someone says you're like a bull in a china shop, odds are you have a reputation for being clumsy when you should be careful.""

It says: "captured in a dance-hall song!!"

Link~> http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythb ... rnage.html


Praises!

in the case of "hog inna minty", the hog is single-mindedly after the coco... and doesn't really care that he's causing chaos!