DUPPY noun
plural duppies
- (Caribbean) a ghost or spirit
NEW job, new word. Has your printer ever been possessed by a duppy? The one at my new place of work has. Or at least so suggested the IT guy, which is how I learnt of the word. I think my mum would swear that her computer is frequented by duppies on a regular basis.
How strange that a word which at first may sound benevolent - comical even - in reality holds much more sinister connotations. Originating from West Africa, it is a Jamaican Patois word, and features heavily in Caribbean folklore. Far from a Casper-like manifestation of an other worldly being, a duppy is in fact a malevolent spirit or soul, said to come out haunting at night in a variety of forms, often as a howling or barking dog.
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