Indulgences

1. Caaf

   Caaf (roasted peanuts)

   Usage

   Groundnuts are Senegal's biggest crop, and the roasted kind is sold in paper cones on street corners, at junctions and inside buses. ⚠ Dangerous for anyone with a peanut allergy — it turns up mixed into other stall snacks too, so always carry "Dama jomlu gerte." ("I have a peanut allergy") alongside this card

   Grammar Note

   "caaf" is glossed "Roasted peanuts", with "gerte" (the raw groundnut) as a coordinate term. The pronunciation is /tɕaːf/. The letter c is an affricate close to English "ch", never /k/

2. Tàngal

   Sweets / candy

   Usage

   Wrapped sweets and lollipops, bought singly at corner shops (bitig) and from vendors working the buses. Shopkeepers sometimes hand over a sweet instead of small change — this is the word to use if you would rather have the coins

   Grammar Note

   "tàngal" (bi class) is glossed "candy". It is also written without the à as "tangal" ("Bonbon"). ⚠ The same spelling is also the verb "to heat" (the causative of tàng, "to be hot")

3. Cuuraay

   Cuuraay (Senegalese incense)

   Usage

   Pellets of resin, wood chips and perfume burned on a small charcoal censer to scent a room, clothes or a guest's welcome. Sold by weight in small bags at market perfume stalls and easy to take home. ⚠ The French spelling is "thiouraye"

   Grammar Note

   "cuuraay" (li class) is glossed "incense". It is also written with a single u as "curaay" ("L'encens")

4. Guro

   Guro (kola nut)

   Usage

   A bitter, caffeine-bearing nut chewed to stave off drowsiness. Sold by the nut in markets, and still carried as a gift when calling on an elder or making a marriage or naming request. It stains the teeth and tongue red, and has long held the place a stimulant occupies in a culture that abstains from alcohol

   Grammar Note

   "guro" is glossed "Le cola". The phrase "di jaay guro, yére, takkaay" (selling kola, cloth and headwear) describes the goods Soninke traders carried

5. Beñe

   Beñe (fried doughnut)

   Usage

   Sweet balls of wheat-flour dough deep-fried at the roadside, piled up fresh in the morning and eaten with café Touba or àttaya. Less sweet than a doughnut

   Grammar Note

   "beñe" is glossed "Le beignet", borrowed from French. ⚠ The letter is ñ (U+00F1, /ɲ/), not ŋ (U+014B, /ŋ/). Wolof orthography keeps the two strictly apart. ŋ belongs to a separate set of words — "ŋas" (measles), and also ŋaam / daŋar / laŋ

6. Beer

   Beer (bottled lager)

   Usage

   ⚠ About 95% of Senegal's population and about 96% of The Gambia's are Muslim, and drinking is religiously avoided. Domestic lagers (Gazelle, Flag) exist, but you will find them mainly in hotels, bars and expatriate restaurants in Dakar, Saly and Cap Skirring, and in the largely Christian Casamance. Ordering alcohol in an ordinary eatery is close to unheard of. Do not carry bottles openly, do not drink during daylight in Ramadan (Koor), and never bring alcohol near a mosque or into the holy city of Touba. If you only want to check whether something contains alcohol, the card "Sanggara" is the less pointed way to ask

   Grammar Note

   "beer" is glossed "Bière". ⚠ Do not confuse it with the similar-looking "biir", which means "belly" ("Suma biir dafa dee" = "my stomach hurts")

7. Biiñ

   Wine

   Usage

   ⚠ Wine is imported: you will find it in Dakar's upmarket supermarkets and in tourist hotels, but hardly ever in a provincial town. Senegal has no wine region, so the "do you have a local wine?" cards will usually draw a blank. The Casamance has palm wine (French "vin de palme", Jola "bunuk"), but that is not a Wolof word

   Grammar Note

   "biiñ" is glossed "Le vin", with "sanggara" listed as a synonym. "sanggara" is also used for alcohol in general. ⚠ The final letter is ñ (U+00F1, /ɲ/), not ŋ (U+014B)

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