Friday, January 9, 2026
By Tony Deyal
I was in Barbados, where my column was named “Saturday’s Child,” and I got enough jokes from the people about how this “show-and-show” man could be called a “child.” My response was, “I think your wife [is] trying to change the subject,” or “You better chill than joke about children, otherwise your wife will tell you who he is.”
That worked until a few minutes later when I used my Barbadian knowledge to shout “Cheese on Bread” and not meaning in any way that it had anything to do with food for the hungry me. In fact, it was from getting a call that my wife, who was in the hospital with her first baby in her womb, was told that, because of her poor health, the doctors felt that the baby would not survive.
This was more than “Cheese on Bread” but was instead, “Cheese and rice, man.” This meant that it was definitely not a dish that I cared for, but an explanation, exclamation, and also a euphemism that skirts around being guilty of blasphemy. Instead, I was swearing loudly about what I heard, but still not wanting to take the words of God like “Jesus Christ.”
I quickly got my wife and first child, a daughter, to Barbados where both of them, the mother and baby, survived. Later, one year after, our second child, a boy, was born. By that time, I had become “New Man in Town” and that too was a problem because one of the company’s big shots asked how an Old Man like me would be called a “New Man”. This led to plain “Tony Deyal” who was always seen somewhere, most likely creating, remembering, or just imagining a scene. The best part of it was not just that I loved Barbados, but so did the Mother Indrani, and our two children-Jasmine (girl) and Zubin (boy). In fact, when someone in the kindergarten school that they went to in Trinidad told them they were “Indians”, they adamantly insisted, almost to the point of tears, “We are not Indians. We are Barbadians!” In a way, it was how I felt as well.
Working in Barbados as the media communications advisor for the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) was a learning experience for life, not just for me but for the family. In fact, my son and daughter are taking our wife and me to Barbados right after Christmas to spend a week at “THEIR HOME AND COUNTRY!”
I told both my children that, despite the long time they spent in Barbados, and Zubin especially, had won the prestigious Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship in 2019, and they needed to remember the local language that they had learned and used when they were there. They both remembered a few like “Ground is fuh de cat and de dog.” In other words, “Finders Keepers.” Then “Bim” and “Bimshire” which they found out was nicknames for “Barbados.” They liked “Bashy” meaning “cool, awesome,” like the new car looking so “bashy.” Then, there was the first time I heard “arrifle.” I was totally lost. But then a friend told me, “That means ‘a lot’ like if you talking a barrifle o’nonsense.” And, if you feel it is not right or you are making their country look bard, you have to get ready for “Bassa-bassa” which is a fight or disagreement.
What the kids were not sure about, given the time they were away from Barbados, were some Bajan sayings and what they meant. There is “hard ears yuh won’t hear, own way you gine feel.” I had no idea what “gine feel” meant, and when I said it sounded like Scotch and would not mind a glass, I was told, “You in the wrong place, You should adhere to advice, or you will end up feeling the negative effects.” I laughed, said sorry and then heard, “Unlike you, we say ‘Cat luck ain dog luck.’” I was upset, “Who you calling dog?” Everyone laughed and looked at me with shouting, “No, not you. What it means is that because something works for one person, it doesn’t mean it will work for anyone, especially you.”
I replied immediately and loudly for everyone to hear, “De devil does find work fa idle hands.” I meant that people who have nothing to do generally find themselves in trouble. I then heard, “Don’t tek a six for a nine otherwise you will be misjudging what we can do to you if you continue, you know!” At that point, I heard from the owner of the place, “Listen mister, behave like the way every fool got he sense. Leave now and don’t come back otherwise…”
I should have shut up and left, but I didn’t, and one of them then dropped a joke about other Trinis and me. The story, by the guy who I got angry for calling me a dog, said, “You just like a Trinidadian in New York. He worked in the construction industry putting up skyscrapers. He invariably had lunch with his two best friends, a Barbadian from right here, and a Jamaican. One day, as they sat on a steel girder 50 floors high, the Barbadian opened his lunch kit and saw flying fish and cou-cou. He got angry.
“Flying fish and cou-cou again!” he exclaimed. “If I get this one more day, I will throw myself from up here.” The Jamaican opened his lunch kit and found ackee and saltfish. “Ackee and salt-fish again,” he roared. “If I get this one more day, I will throw myself from up here.” The Trinidadian opened his lunch and found roti and fried potatoes. He shouted, “If I get this one more day, I will throw myself from up here.” The next day, the three men opened their lunches.
The Barbadian said in disgust, “Flying fish and cou-cou again!” and jumped. The Jamaican took one disgusted look at his lunch, “Ackee and salt-fish again” and jumped. The Trinidadian saw the roti and fried potatoes, and he jumped too. At the joint funeral of all three men, the widows got together.
The Barbadian’s widow cried softly, “Ef I know he would do something so drastic I would have given him something else.” The Jamaican widow said: “If I thought he would do that, I would have given him a hamleete instead.” The Trinidadian’s widow said in frustration, “I can’t understand why he do that at all. He used to fix his own lunch.”
Actually, in a way, it was the best for all of us. We are from the Caribbean and should really be one for all and all for one, especially now with Trump trying to destroy everything he touches. Worse, with Trinidad deciding to stick with that man and ignore the rest of the Caribbean, which is under the leadership of prime minister Mottley. As several people around the region said, while Caribbean leaders start at the top and then quickly bottom out, PM Mottley is at the top and raising much higher than Mount Hillaby. With her limitless commitment to her country and her people, as well as trying to help the entire region, if they ever decide to name a mountain after her, it would be “Mount Neverest.”
*Tony Deyal said there was an old man was being pressured by a real estate salesman to buy an expensive condominium on the Barbados West Coast resort of Westmoorings, as it is a great investment for the future. The man replied, “Son, at my age, I don’t even buy green bananas.”
