Beauty of the caribbean culture is often expressed with the beauty of the language spoken by the Caribbean people. Jamaican Patois, known locally as Patois (Patwa) or Jamaican, and called Jamaican Creole by linguists, is an English-lexified creole language with West African influences spoken primarily in Jamaica. However today the charm and the mistique of the Jamaican patois, is spoken not only by Jamaicans but also by non Jamaicans alike all over the world.

The language developed in the 17th century, when slaves from West and Central Africa were exposed to, learned and nativized the vernacular and dialectal forms of English spoken by their masters: British English, Scots and Hiberno English. Jamaicans themselves usually refer to their dialect as patois, a French term without a precise linguistic definition.

We at Grace Island Soda would like to share with you our language through some of the colourful and sometimes puzzling, yet timeless sayings from the islands in Patois. We hope that some of these phrases and sayings will become popular in your own daily usage.

Like a bottle washed up on a sea shore, with a message tucked nicely inside, we invite you to open up your bottle of Island Soda and enjoy the message in your bottle!