a no babariman e broko pranasi

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Literally, “it's not the noisy ones who destroy the plantations”. Refers to escaped enslaved people who stealthily returned to wreck plantations and free other enslaved people.

Proverb

a no babariman e broko pranasi

  1. barking dogs seldom bite
    • 1856, Heinrich Wullschlägel, Deutsch-negerenglisches Wörterbuch. Nebst einem Anhang, negerenglische Sprüchwörter enthaltend [German-Negro English dictionary. Containing, in addition to an appendix, Negro English proverbs]‎, Löbau: J.U. Duroldt, page 304:
      A no Babariman de broko pranasi. Nicht die Schreier zerstören die Plantagen. (Geht auf die ehemaligen Buschneger-Einfälle[sic]). Hunde, die beißen wollen, bellen nicht zuvor. - Hunde, die bellen, beißen nicht.
      A no Babariman de broko pranasi. It's not the screamers that are destroying the plantations. (Goes [back] to the former Bush Negro incursions). Dogs that want to bite don't bark first. - Dogs that bark do not bite.
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