Jamaican Bad Words Origin and Meaning

Jamaicans have a set of words which are considered to be bad which are expressed for anger, joy and even amusement. But how many Jamaicans have ever stopped to consider where these words originated from and their true meaning? This little article will explain just that.

During the colonization of the Caribbean islands by the Spaniards and British, many Africans were hunted and captured in Africa by fellow Africans and sold to the white buyers as slaves. These slaves were brought to the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba etc. to work on various kinds of plantations. The women when approached puberty started the cycle of menstruation. The females slaves were never given the right materials to collect the blood which exited from the vagina and simply had to improvise by using any materials they could find.

Before the disposable pad was invented, most women used rags, cotton, or sheep's wool in their underwear to stem the flow of menstrual blood. Knitted pads, rabbit fur, even grass were all used by women to handle their periods.The wives of the slave owners were privileged to use these cotton rags and sheep wool. The women slaves however had to tear pieces of cloth from old, discarded and many times dirty material to use to stem the outflow.

These pieces of cloth took on some pretty decorative names when being mentioned.

1. Bloodclaat - BloodClothThis jamaican badword is simply a cloth with menstrual blood to be disposed of. The word is not a "bad word" to say. It is just a combination of two words "Blood and Cloth" to give a rise to the word being used to curse and belittle women.
   
2. Rassclaat - RassClothRass means bottom, buttocks or batty as Jamaicans would say. So simply put. RassCloth is basically a cloth used to wipe your ass.
   
3. Bomboclaat - BomboClothBombo means behind, bottom. So this too is a another cloth which is used to wipe some else ass.
   
4. Pussyclaat - PussyClothNot different from blood-cloth. Another material used to catch blood from the vagina.

So when you hear Jamaicans cussing or just talking and using these menstrual cloth in their mouth you have to really wonder if they are aware of the meaning of the word and how great their ignorance is. But at the same time it is quite funny once you know the origin and meaning of the word and you see people cussing and using it.

Just substitute the "bad-word for the real use of the item and have a laugh. Example. Jamaican will cuss and say, "Move yuh bloodclaat." Just look at it like this, "Move your Period Rag" When they say move you dutty pussyclaat. Just substitute the bad-word for vagina rag and see how stupid badwords really are.