-Haitian Creole saying
-direct English translation: “Don’t make my mouth long”
-Dom’s colloquial translation: “Don’t piss me off, basically”
My friend, Dom, is from Atlanta, GA; however, both of his parents were born in Haiti. He is fluent in Haitian Creole, and quite passionate about his heritage, culture, and driving upliftment of Haiti and its inhabitants.
According to Dom, “Pa fe bouche mwen long” directly translates to “Don’t make my mouth long,” however, it essentially means “Don’t piss me off.” He heard it from his parents and other adults in his community if he or others were bothering or angering them.
Most of the online media defining this saying provide only colloquial translations. However, as I suspected when Dom first told it to me, according to Learn Haitian Creole, somewhere between the direct and colloquial is the translation, “Don’t make me talk too much.” When Dom’s mom would tell him not to make her mouth long, she was really instructing him not to get her worked up to the point of having to lecture or yell at him.