Belly talk

The boys also got into the act and I had to relent. I explained, “An advertising firm asked me to write several commercials to promote a new product. I gave these to actors in my theatre company to voice on radio but I felt I should do this one myself. ‘There was a big fat fella called Eddie,/Who was greedy and had a big belly./His wife decided to reduce his gut./ She fed him daily on Yoplait Yogurt,/And now Eddie is ready like Freddie.’”

Right away, there was a spontaneous burst of laughter. As a matter of fact, they applauded themselves because they all joined in the last line. Instead of teaching the English lesson I had prepared, it ended up with my explaining that a limerick is a short funny poem of just five lines with the rhyme scheme aabba. Actually, that impromptu lesson proved to be quite successful as the pupils enjoyed themselves tremendously and came up with remarkable limericks.

In the Jamaican play, Sleepy Valley, the worthless politician Wild Hog who wanted to get the votes of the gullible villagers, shouts, “I have arranged for a free bruckings tonight at my good friend Mr Fat Frog. Come and eat curry goat, drink free white rum. And so I end my speech in the words of the great poet William Shakespeare, ‘Before good food waste make oonoo belly buss!’”

We usually put it this way, “Better belly bus than good food waste” — meaning that it is better to overeat than to throw away good food. Of course, many persons will argue that moderation is the key and anything we overdo is detrimental to the body.

“Rub my belly and I go scratch your back,” is a pretty common expression somewhat similar to “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” The meaning is clear, “Do me a favour, help me with this problem and I will repay you.”

I can’t remember when last I heard this one, “Full belly man does tell hungry belly man to keep heart.” Wealthy people who can afford to buy all the food they want, like to tell the less fortunate to bear up. The implication is “words” will not help to feed a hungry person.

Whenever some one came up with a suggestion or prediction that seemed impossible, we used to say, “That and a big belly fowl, you will never see.” Here “big belly” means ‘pregnant’ and an expectant hen is a no-no.

One of the first stories I heard, was related by my grandmother. It goes — “Once upon a time, a mother had three sons. The first son had an enormous belly, and was very greedy so she called him, ‘Big Belly’. The second son had a wide large mouth and used to laugh at everything, so the mother called him ‘Broad Mouth’. The third son had extremely thin legs, and so she called him ‘Thin Foot’.

“One day, she told them, ‘Take this money and go to the shop to buy some flour for me to make bake for all you. Don’t stop to play or do anything. Go straight and come back straight.’

“On the way, they saw a tall zabreeco mango tree. Right away, Big Belly climbed the tree and ate and ate until “pow” his belly burst into thousands of pieces. Broad Mouth laughed and laughed until his mouth split in two. Thin Foot ran off to tell his mother but his foot stick in an ant’s hole and he also died. The moral of the story is, ‘Obey your mother’. Always remember, ‘Obedience is heaven’s law.’”

And a teacher added, “St Paul warns us not to make our bellies, our God.”