The Art of Speaking Pig Latin!

The other day I looked up the word Jibberish  or  Gibberish and to my surprise I was taken to a site that told me that they were one in the same. Now I know this is not true, since I have listened to Gibberish/Jibberish from some allegedly well educated people. As a child I listened to my mom and my Aunts  (her sisters)chatter in the kitchen in Pig Latin so often, that at one time I thought we had come from another Country. We didn’t.

This activity, usually began around Thanksgiving and ended just before Christmas. They would drink their tea, and jibber jabber their favorite way of sharing information without having the children understand a single word.

I was the only child to Dotty, and she and I would take the train into Jamaica, Queens every Saturday. The Sisters would do the same, every weekend. We would then get on the Q-9 bus to Jerome Avenue, then walk to Aunt Flo’s house.  All the cousins played either outside or on the front porch, trying to keep out of the adults hair.

Then we would hear it. The strange sounds that came from their mouths. “I ot-gay the ike-bay or-fay evie-stay on enth-tay eert-say ”  “enry-hay ut-pay it in the asement-bay.  I ope-hay e-way ave-hay ime-tay, efore-bay ass-may”. (We were a Catholic Family) I heard my mother say ASS, oh, my, she never says anything like that. My ears got bigger. I began to pay attention to what they were saying.

“E-way icked-pay up the ifts-gay in the Ity-Cay, ri-fay ay-day.”  What?  What did my Aunt Ronnie just say? She said something about The City? I think so.  She said the City.

It took some time on the part of my cousin Monica and me, to put together the pieces and realized that we understood what the older women in our family were saying. We realized that the word City was, in their language was ITY CAY.  That meant that we could figure out everything.

The clue was dropping the first letter, pronouncing the remaining part of the word, then placing that first letter at the end of the remaining part of the word, and then adding “AY” to that first letter.

That’s the secret, and that’s the only secret, about Pig Latin.  The language’s only redeeming value is keeping Christmas, and Birthday presents a surprise to the receivers of the presents.

If you feel the need to keep any information from another, and there is someone with you, who knows the language, go for it. Talk about anything you want, others within hearing distance, will not understand your conversation. Just hope they don’t figure it out, during your conversation, because they will learn about your hidden agenda.