slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...
term for
Bahamians
Bahamians are people originating or having roots from The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. One can also become a Bahamian by acquiring citizenship.
History
Culture
Olympic Games
World Championships in Athletics
List
* Sidney Poitier, first ...
of European descent.
Theories of the name
After the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, many
loyalists
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
migrated to the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
. Some of the loyalists looked down on the original white Bahamians and called them Conchs, possibly because shellfish was a prominent part of their diet.Foster, Charles C. 1991. ''Conchtown USA'', with Folk songs & tales collected by Veonica Huss. Boca Raton, Florida: Florida Atlantic University Press.
Some other theories that have been proposed for the origin of the term are:
*The Bahamians told the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
authorities that they would "eat conch" before paying taxes levied by
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
East Florida
East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...
) who recaptured
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
from the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
in 1782 hoisted a flag with a shell rampant on a field of canvas.
*The first regiment of militia in Nassau adopted a regimental flag with a gold conch shell on a blue field.
Use in Florida
Florida Keys
By extension, the term ''Conch'' has also been applied to the descendants of Bahamian immigrants in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Bahamians began visiting the Florida Keys in the 18thcentury to catch turtles, cut timber, and salvage wrecks. During the 19thcentury and the first half of the 20thcentury, most of the permanent residents in the Florida Keys outside of Key West, and many in Key West, were Bahamian in origin. ''Conch'' was reported to be a term of distinction for Bahamians in Key West in the 1880s.
The white Bahamians in the keys continued to be known as Conchs. A
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
produced ''Guide to Florida'' noted that both Conchs and black Bahamians in Key West spoke with a "Cockney accent". Other residents of the Florida Keys, especially in Key West, began calling themselves Conchs, and the term is now applied generally to all residents of Key West such as in
Conch Republic
The Conch Republic () is a micronation declared as a tongue-in-cheek secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982. It has been maintained as a tourism booster for the city. Since then, the term "Conch Re ...
.Viele, John. 1996. ''The Florida Keys: a History of the Pioneers''. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. To distinguish between natives and non-natives, the terms "Salt Water Conch" (native) and "Fresh Water Conch" (non-native) have been used. Newcomers become "Fresh Water Conchs" after seven years.
Elsewhere in Florida
Riviera Beach, Florida
Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home ...
, was known as "Conchtown" in the first half of the 20thcentury because of the number of Bahamian immigrants who settled there. Unlike the situation in Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys, where being Conch became a matter of pride and community identification, ''Conch'' was used by outsiders (in particular the residents of
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
) in a pejorative manner to describe the Bahamian community in Riviera Beach. The usage there also carried the connotation that at least some of the Conchs were of mixed racial heritage. As a result, some of the Bahamians in Riviera Beach denied being Conchs when interviewed by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA) Florida Writers Project in the late 1930s. WPA worker Veronica Huss (with assistance from
Stetson Kennedy
William Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated t ...
) and photographer Charles Foster wrote a book on the Conchs and their culture entitled ''Conch Town,'' but the WPA chose not to publish it (Foster eventually published an edited version in 1991). Many Bahamians also settled in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, particularly in the
Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...
neighborhood, and in
Tarpon Springs
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...
.
Other uses
The term ''Conchy Joe'' or ''Conky Joe'' can be a pejorative or affectionate term used to refer to a native Bahamian of primarily European descent.
See also
* Conch house, an architectural style derived from Bahamian and other traditions