You Know You're a Trini When...
- You reach where you're going at least an hour late.
- You point with your lips.
- You call hanging out 'liming.'
- The word 'storm' has nothing to do with the weather.
- You refer to soda pop as 'sweet drink.'
- You say 'Old Year's Night' instead of 'New Year's Eve.'
- You refer to avocado as 'zaboca.'
- You call hard candy 'sweetie.'
- You call all hot drinks (coffee, cocoa, milo, tea) 'tea.'
- You could wine and get on bad.
- You like eating doubles for breakfast.
- You wash 'wares' after a meal.
- You say 'boy' to everyone, ususally at the beginning of a sentence.
- You end a sentence with 'man.'
- You like to call people by hissing.
- You nod your head upwards to greet someone.
- You show disappointment by 'steupsing' (also called sucking teeth).
- You shorten your sentences, like 'Whayahsayin?' or 'Whahappenin?'
- You say 'twenTAY' (20) instead of 'twenTEE' like other English speakers.
- You speak of leaving your hair 'open' instead fo 'loose.'
- You start gearing down for the weekend by lunchtime on Friday.
And I'll add...You know what these things mean and find them funny.
So how Trini are you?
Happy Trini Tuesday!
I'm always early
ReplyDeleteI just can't call you boy
I would never hiss at you
I'm not very Trini...but I would like some tea, and it would be awesome to lime with you!....G
Doubles, breakfast of champions!!!
ReplyDeletep.s. better you dan me to go an do audio post
ReplyDelete(might still think about it as soon as I figure out how hehe)
I would love to have doubles for breakfast. In German you also leave your hair "offen" (open). And although Germans are known for punctuality everyone who met me, knows that that's an unfair stereotype :).
ReplyDelete"You speak of leaving your hair 'open' instead fo 'loose.'"
ReplyDeletehaha never thought of that one before in that way :) reminds me of how in college i was offending people by telling them 'i'll pass by your room later'... they thought i was saying that i would walk past their door and not say hi!!!!
they also were confused by me saying 'goodnight' as a hello :D
Heh Now I wanna hang out with you in real life and see how much of this stuff that you do.
ReplyDeleteSome of my Indian habits:
I say "uh" of "ah" instead of uh huh or yeah or I gotcha...
I have the one head waggle down for a nice gesture.
I eat without my silverware alot.
I call everyone beta
I say Achaaa alot, which means OK
And I also say Chalo a lot which means lets go, or you go, or get out of here!
And some of the best things about it are that I dont ever feel like I have not enough, I have plenty of what I need, always....
Ok thats all..
S
What are those doubles made of ? I know some that could actually pass for Trini! Thanks for the laughs and have a good day!
ReplyDeleteVery good, I refuse to think about how many foreign mannerisms I've retained.
ReplyDeleteBut doubles for breakfast sound LOVELY!
g-man,
ReplyDeleteyou take your tea with sweetened condensed milk?
tt, i feelin fuh dem
cosima, i am sort of in between the german and trini ideals timewise
gourmet, the 'ggodnight' thing is a great example!
bare, achaaa beta
breazy, the pancake looking part is a split pea dough and the innards are curried chick peas
logo, they are rib stickers
meow meow meow meow meow meow meow.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun reading lime.
Sometimes you can enjoy a culture you've lived in even more when you're away.
tc
Well.. I'm not too Trini!
ReplyDelete* I start sentences with "Yo, wassup" and I'm not at all ebonic.
* As a full blooded Canadian I DO use "Eh" at the end of sentences (but not all the time).
* I call people by saying, "Hey hey!" or "Yo"
* Candy is candy to me.
* I DO use "Boy" alot, tho - but at the END of a sentence, not the beginning. (ie: "That was some good food, boy!" - I'm starting to think that I was a black man in a past life... could happen!)
* I have called coffee, "Tar-bean Tea" before in my writings!
* Hanging out is: Chillaxin' or "Getting together".
* When greeting someone, I actually slightly bow... something to do with working for a Korean company..
I think I'm a little fucked up... I'm a white guy, who speaks english with a french accent sometimes.. and speaks french with an english accent, I'm prone to using ebonics in some of my greetings, and I bow ... I'm ONE-EIGHTH Algonquin indian, which explain my propencity for enjoying alcohol, but i thoroughly enjoy chinese food...
I think it's official: I'm weird.
great list! I am always on time : )
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention two things:
ReplyDelete1) When I open a bottle of wine: "I'm letting it air!"
2) When I want you to shut the lights off, I ask you if you could please, "close the lights".
Ya.. NOW it's official.
Now that's a nice slice of Trini life. A big MMMM on doubles. Though I've been going the Malaysian route of late with breakfast... to great delight.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Okay, what does 'storm' have to do with?
ReplyDeleteObviously my Trini quotient is pretty close to zero, but it is on the list of place I want to visit before I die!
tc, glad you enjoyed
ReplyDeletealro, that is quite a cultural mix up you are working!
myutopia, we'll have to work on that teehee
lecram, they are diana's favorite and sadly i never learned the trick of making the bara, although i can curry the chickpeas
tvs, storm means to gate crash a paying funtion
Aint never been anywhere near Trinidad (unfortunately) but this post had me sucking air between my teeth and saying aloud things like "Whayahsayin" and "Twen-tay"... I think I might fit right in as a Trini now! :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun -- wanna take me sometime?
ReplyDeleteseems brazilians and trinis have a lot in common. Except Brazilians starting gearing down for the weekend on wednesday lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteOh and nothing, but nothing gets done until after Carnival.
I might have been displaced at birth :) A few of those things "fit". Hope you are having a great week!
ReplyDeleteI like being early. Howe very unTrini of me :)
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I'm a Trini all-round. Revelled in it during my stint in England. And I let my English get bad, bad, bad. So bad, that when I returned home, even my friends were like "wham to you gyul".