Reach???

[Face Down]

So I have noticed over the years a lot of you here use the term "reach". I know that you are describing your trip to Negril but where does the term come from? Is is Jamaican? or a throwback from the hippy days of the 70's? I have Googled it to no avail, my thoughts are it is either short for outreach (which doesn't seem to apply) or maybe reaching your destination?? Or is it one person used the term and overtime it became the cool thing to say without know why you are saying it?

Just curious....

[captaind & Linston]

Somewhere here there's a thread about it.

Somebody will post the link.

Cap

[Lorax2]

Maybe it has something to do with REACHING a your destination.
Or...reaching deep to afford the trip.

[captaind & Linston]

Maybe it has something to do with REACHING a your destination.
Or...reaching deep to afford the trip.

Lorax,

You're half right. "Did you reach?" was always a question back in the day.

Reach is the subject of the interrogatory

It got turned around to be a verb "to reach"........."Mi soon reach"

Patios is a very dynamic language.

As far as I know

Cap

[Face Down]

Somewhere here there's a thread about it.

Somebody will post the link.

Cap

I tried a search here too..too many threads popped up!

[bjritz]

Face, that question is in itself quite a reach.

[negrilsand]

Many of us try to sound cool and use words that we think are appropriate Jamaican Patois. Perhaps our babble will someday become "American Patois". We all are fascinated by things Jamaican.

[Big_frank]

Won't use it myself. negrilsand nails it.

[Chris B]

Reach is a nautical term specific to sailing. It refers to the distance one sails before "reaching" a tack or turnaround point. Thus, our "outbound reach" takes us to Negril, and our "homebound reach" takes us back to our starting point... unless we want to have that whole "Welcome Home" discussion again.

[Accompong]

A few of us on the board live in Jamaica (much of the year) and kind of get used to using some Patwa "Patois" terms because that is what we are hearing all the time. With me, it is not all about being "cool" but more so to be understood by my friends and neighbors in Accompong Town. Even though they speak English, they talk in patwa almost all the time. If I don't use the common patwa words, I keep hearing "ehh?" and having to repeat myself all the time. I speak a likkle "little" conversational Spanish but even when I hear a word I know in Spanish, I ask for it to be repeated to make sure I do understand what is being said or asked.

One example I like about patwa words is "bratta". It generally means "borrowed" when used with most words. Like getting old the bible says

Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

so, when a person gets older than 80 they are on "bratta time". The sound of "bratta" or "bredda" (brother) etc. is similar so when you are unsure of the context as it is being used, it can be a likkle confusing.

"Reach" is a very popular and much used word where I live. Like Capt D says, it means "destination". Often I hear, "affarren dem reach" meaning they got a VISA to live or visit another country.

Sometimes using a Patois term better describes what you mean when talking about Jamaica. Just my take on the subject.

Peace and Guidance