OY, Not Just a Yiddish Word

Growing up, the Yiddish word "OY", was used to express your reaction to depressing news, frustration with what you were doing or frustration with what somebody else was doing especially a sibling, son, daughter or other relative. Essentially it was reflection that in some way or another some sort of pain was inflicted on you. Which follows with my Aunt Minnie using it a lot. She was always disappointed with what her children, nephews or grandchildren were doing. In Jamaica, however, "OY" is used as a sign of acknowledgment or greeting, especially from several feet away. For instance, "waa gwaan Scottie?" and I reply, "OY!!!" or "waappin mai ute" and you reply with "OY!!!" Get it? In my situation I use OY in the Jamaica sense and the Yiddish sense of the word. This may create some confusion though.

Other words/phrases with different meanings on Jam rock:

• sorry - means excuse me
  
• hush (or ush) - means sorry
• their pear is equivalent to an avocado
• their apple looks like a pear with the same context, but different taste
• our ghost is their dopey

That's all I can think of for now.