So you want to swear like Rob Ford ..... eh? Jeezus, in one of his drunken stupors maybe he had an epiphany now thinks he's a black man!

Rob Ford's drunken, Jamaican English-laced rant translated

Tristin Hopper
Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A framegrab from video, which was posted to YouTube by "Toronto TheCity" on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford allegedly slurring words while talking to people in a restaurant the evening of Monday, January 20, 2014. He later admitted he had been drinking. (YouTube)

On Monday, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was videotaped in a bizarre exchange at a Toronto fast food restaurant that is notable not only for the mayor’s drunkenness, but for his liberal use of Jamaican English.
Through careful analysis of the audio — and translation via sources in Jamaica — the National Post presents this approximate transcript of Mr. Ford’s exchange with an unknown citizen, along with explanations.

FORD: C**ksuckers. Fuckin’ Chief Blair and them all. Cha, man. They chase me around for five months, man. Bumbaclot man. I said, me and him, ya raasclat bumbaclot.

In this opening diatribe against Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, Mr. Ford uses no less than three expressions common to Jamaica, but virtually unknown among Canadian-born English speakers. The first, “cha,” is a disdainful expletive, the Caribbean equivalent of “bah!”

Related

• Rob Ford video shows ‘drunk’ mayor rambling and swearing in Toronto restaurant
• Second Rob Ford video from Etobicoke diner shows Toronto Mayor meeting with man who appears to be Sandro Lisi

The other two are more obscene, what our Jamaican translator called “indecent language.” The first, “raasclat,” is a deeply offensive term that refers to a rag used to wipe one’s buttocks after defecation. As slang lexographer Jonathan Green explained in a 2011 online post, “raas by itself means the buttocks, and by extension the whole person.”

The second, “bumbaclot,” is said to be Jamaican equivalent of “f*ck” or Quebec’s “tabernac.” The word also refers to a rag, but usually one used to absorb menstrual blood. Most notably, it is mentioned in the song “Oh Bumbo Klaat” on the 1981 Peter Tosh album Wanted Dread and Alive.

FORD Leave me alone, man. They got five months man, and then trying to tell me ‘well, we’re counter-surveilling the guy.’ You know what I mean? He’s hiding here, I’m’a hide here. I’m’a—oh, we don’t—f*ck off.

Here, Mr. Ford is recounting a five month period in 2013 when he was under police surveillance in connection with a much larger “guns and gangs” probe by the Toronto Police. Ultimately, it was via this probe that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair was able to confirm the existence of a video purporting to show Mr. Ford smoking crack cocaine, indirectly leading to the November city council vote that stripped Mr. Ford of most of his mayoral powers.

FORD: You know how much money that costs, man? I said bro, just cut something, ‘no man, no money man.’ Cha. Ah, Bumbaclot, man. I said ‘you know what? You raasclat, bumbaclot. I swear to God, man, honestly man. Serious shit, man. Serious shit, bro.

Mr. Ford appears to be reiterating his previous claim that the Toronto Police only put him under surveillance due to a personal vendetta sparked by Mr. Ford’s calls for the department to cut its budget. As he said in a December interview, “I want to save money and I guess [Chief Blair] disagrees with that.” The mayor also spices up his language with four more uses of Jamaican English. It is worth noting that this is the first time Mr. Ford has ever been seen to inject his public speech with Jamaican expressions, or even exhibit any knowledge of Jamaican English.

CITIZEN: All we know is we got the best mayor in the world right here.
FORD: No, seriously, you know …
CITIZEN: “This guy deserves to be even better than Prime Minister Harper.
[At this point, the two talk over each other]
CITIZEN: Harper is the guy who is fucking up. I always tell them go become the Prime Minister of Canada.
FORD: No, no, no, no. I don’t bullsh*t, you know? I’m a straight up guy, you know?

As he faced down near-unanimous condemnation from polite Canadian society over the last few months, Mr. Ford has never had a problem bumping into civilians to assure him he’s on the right track. Indeed, it is exchanges like the above that have most likely buoyed Mr. Ford’s indomitable confidence that he will win reelection in October.

FORD SPEAKING ALONE: Who goes into THC? Who’s going into Jamestown, Jane and Finch and then Malvern on the—them fucks—you know what I see, manbro? Shit like …

In a textbook Freudian slip, Mr. Ford says he “goes into THC.” THC, of course, is the active ingredient in marijuana. More likely, however, Mr. Ford is referring to TCH, Toronto Community Housing. Mr. Ford has frequently portrayed himself as a “hands-on” chief executive, and this sentiment was on full display last September when he publicly toured a TCH-owned building to listen to complaints from residents.

The mayor also appears to be playing up his everyman reputation by mentioning Jamestown, Jane and Finch and Malvern, all of them low-income, high-crime Toronto areas.

thopper@nationalpost.com