Redu! -- Quirks of Language in #Curaçao (#AtoZChallenge 2015)
Redu
[RED-doo]
Literally: gossip (n.)(the verb is, officially at least, redashi)Origin: I think it comes from the Spanish enredo, though the Dutch (roddel) is also close.
A colleague of yours, normally drab and homely, shows up at the office in sexy high heels and a new haircut. At lunchtime, someone says they know why--she has a new boyfriend. You -- and everyone else within earshot -- crowd in closer, saying, "
Redu, redu
!"(English: Let that poor, suffocating cat out of the damn bag!)
At a dinner party, someone walks in on you and a friend having a private conversation in the kitchen. The new arrival immediately wants to know if you were discussing X or Y person.
You, only half joking: " Redu bo ke sa."
(Translates more or less literally as "You want to hear gossip", but used in context it's more like a not-quite-so-confrontational "Mind your own business".)
Although the verb is redashi, it's more often conjugated as doing redu. For instance:
Your friend, a notorious gossip, is criticizing someone for spreading rumors. You: "But, dushi, you do redu also."
(English: "You gossip, too.")
See that couple sitting in the U? When the girl saw me and my camera she sat back to hide her face.
Shyness, or did she not want photographic evidence of a tryst? Redu, redu!
Today's bonus:
renchi [REN-chee]
Hint:
And congratulations to Sabina (of Victim to Charm, truly cool blog about the college life) for guessing miracle on the last bonus word -- you're now in the draw to win the short story collection about Curaçao, most aptly titled The Miracle of Small Things :)

At a dinner party, someone walks in on you and a friend having a private conversation in the kitchen. The new arrival immediately wants to know if you were discussing X or Y person.
You, only half joking: " Redu bo ke sa."
(Translates more or less literally as "You want to hear gossip", but used in context it's more like a not-quite-so-confrontational "Mind your own business".)
Although the verb is redashi, it's more often conjugated as doing redu. For instance:
Your friend, a notorious gossip, is criticizing someone for spreading rumors. You: "But, dushi, you do redu also."
(English: "You gossip, too.")

Shyness, or did she not want photographic evidence of a tryst? Redu, redu!
Today's bonus:
renchi [REN-chee]
Hint:

And congratulations to Sabina (of Victim to Charm, truly cool blog about the college life) for guessing miracle on the last bonus word -- you're now in the draw to win the short story collection about Curaçao, most aptly titled The Miracle of Small Things :)
Published on April 22, 2015 04:30
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