Comments on: Zero, zero, one, one, nine/'ca Yellowman make yuh feel so fine.

Question: Zero, zero, one, one, nine/'ca Yellowman make yuh feel so fine.

cadastral — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:34:14 -0800

What meaning (if any) might the number "00119" have in Jamaican culture or music? (As seen in Yellowman's song Zungguzungguguzungguzeng. Lyrics - Youtube [lyric in question begins at 1:09]). Postal code? Telephone prefix? Inside joke? I'm a non-casual fan of dancehall music, and I'm stumped. Searching on the web hasn't given me any good leads (though, every time I say that, someone'll come up with some ridiculously simple and elegant search term that produces fantastic results).

Does anyone have a Jamaican relative that they've been meaning to call for a while? I have a suspicion that this might be the only way. Many thanks.

By: cadastral

cadastral — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:36:39 -0800

Forgot to add that the song came out in 1983... so it's quite possible that this little piece of slang might be extremely dated.

By: gnutron

gnutron — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:47:48 -0800

I don't know what it means, but I know that Yellowman in particular was fond of pulling jokes from Jamaican pop culture, commercials and everyday life. freeeeesh. jamaican. keeetchup.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:49:22 -0800

Here it says it may be a reference to their version of 911, though 119 is also the album number. I'm not sure this is the meaning though.

By: cadastral

cadastral — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:24:50 -0800

drezdn, thanks... looking promising. (what search terms did you use, if you don't mind me imposing?)

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:33:26 -0800

Another "I don't know but why let that stop me" answer: Jamaica didn't (and still doesn't, I believe) have postal codes. Phone numbers were five digits long in 1983, with a two-digit area code if you were calling long-distance, so that sounds likely.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:24:21 -0800

Cadastral, I think I tried "zero zero One One nine" in quotes... Possibly with yellowman too.