Kitchen Btch

Happy Independence Day! 🇯🇲

The Tilly Lamp was a common household item that was used to illuminate homes, before the introduction of electricity. Made from tin, it was a three-tiered and shadeless lamp with a handle that was fuelled by kerosene oil and a cloth wick.

It is said the name came from the Englishman John Tilley, who manufactured lamps for the British Army during World War I. The lamps were so popular that Tilley/Tilly became used as a generic name for any type of kerosene lamp in parts of the British Empire.

In Jamaica, it is also called a cowgut or tinning lamp in some parishes. The more popular name it is known as in Jamaica is Kitchen Bitch.

The term Kitchen Bitch is said came about because the soot from the lamp would dirty up the walls of kitchens, where the lamp was usually kept.....so it would 'bitch up' Jamaican slang for to mess up or to ruin...ones kitchen. Hence, Kitchen Bitch.