bollo work
Jamaican Creole
Alternative forms
bollo, bollo wuk
Etymology
Possibly a clipping and compound of combolo (“friend/comrade”) + work (“work”).[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbʌlʌ wʌk/
- Hyphenation: bo‧llo‧work
Noun
bollo work
- Temporary emergency jobs created by the government to reduce unemployment.
- 2018 November 16, Martin Henry, “Martin Henry”, in Jamaica Gleaner:
- It’s not a vote-buying, ‘bollo work’ public works programme, we are led to believe.
- Di party seh a nuh bollo work, but everybody dun know seh true election deh near mek dem dweet.
- The party pointed out that these weren't temporary emergency jobs, but we all knew that they created them because elections are approaching.
References
- F.G. Cassidy and R.B. Le Page, Dictionary of Jamaican English (2nd Edition), 2002 (reprint by The University of the West Indies Press, originally 1967 by Cambridge University Press), ISBN 9789766401276, page 58