Da Dis Ting

Either it took me four months to notice this - or it took that long for our agents to become comfortable enough with me to stop trying to speak perfect English. In any case, over the last couple weeks it has become so prevalent that I can't not hear it.

At home, we may say whatchamacallit, thingamajig, thingamabob, doodad, or another such fill-in, often when we can't think of the name of something or our brains are in too big a hurry or are just too lazy to find it in that big pile of data that will never make us any money.

Here in Ghana, there is a similar phrase, but it is used not just for things but for places as well and is used in sentences with the regularity of "like" or "you know", as well as when a word is not coming to mind.

This is not a new phrase. If you've traveled in the English-speaking Carribean you've likely heard it - not surprisingly since most of the slaves exported to those islands were from this part of Africa and there seems to be a strong cultural and travel linkage to Jamaica in particular. The phrase is "dis ting" or "da dis ting". Whenever I hear it, which is quite a lot these days, it makes me think of Vizzini's command from The Princess Bride: "Move the thing! And that other thing!" - or that old tease when someone asks you "where" and you say, "You know, at that spot where we were that time by the place and you saw that thing and said it reminded you of that other time we went there. You know."

So, here is a typical conversation at one of our route day meetings:

"How many new batteries have you rented?"

"I couldn't go to da dis ting yesterday because I had to travel to Akropong for da dis ting, but I rented 4 dis ting the day before." (name of some village; a funeral; batteries)

"How many adapters do you still have?"

"My dis ting's small boy stepped on da dis ting and it cracked. Should I count da dis ting?" (customer; adapter; that one)

I've arrived at the point where I generally know what is meant when this phrase is used in a sentence, even more than once. Of course, it's easier if I keep my whatchamacallit specific so that I know the whatsit of their thingamajig. You know? (question; context; response)
XO