By Tony Deyal
Coming back to Trinidad after a great time in Barbados, and hearing some of the folks there and in Trinidad saying that they will have the usual bacchanal in “Barbados,” especially with a “just-so” or what is really an “out of the blue election.” As one of my friends there said, “This is not just coming but really running down the track. In fact, anyone coming to Trinidad, especially for Carnival this year, will need help with understanding the Trini language and words.
With just a few days remaining before the Carnival jump-on, and the need to ask, get and hold on to one or more of the men or women in the band, you must jump instead of hoping or not bothering. This year, the Trinidad Carnival is on Monday, February 16 and Tuesday, February 17, and today is January 24 and counting. In other words, you not just “coming down the track” but running.
However, you must get ready to rumble, stumble or even mumble if you don’t understand what the Trini saying. In fact, some people consider that one of the top Trini expressions is that “Trinidad is not a real place” because it is an expression of disbelief and angst towards news or event happen here that seem ridiculous, silly, terrible, or corrupt to be true, but they are totally true and ready to fight if you say they wrong or talking crap.
That, and other expressions by Ros Singh, a Trini Freelancer, have a lot to offer. For instance, Trinis talk like “Spinning top in mud” (repeating the same talk over and over), “God is a Trini” (whatever happen, especially in the Caribbean, we will be spared and ok), “God doh sleep” (He doh sleep and what goes around, comes around and you get it in your behind one way or the other); and even if you go “Behind God back” and you take a chance to do something wrong, eventually “De mark buss” and you get “ketch” to the point that all your secrets and gossip hit the road and everyone who hear it add some more to make it worse. In that case, it is worse than “Getting horn” or when your wives or husbands screwing with a partner and you don’t know.
This is when the insults come quick, hard, and heavy like heck. “Hull yuh mudda…”, “You damn dotish” (foolish and stupid at the same time), “You so stupid that it is clear you father is a glassmaker,” or “Grandpa smoke yoh pipe” (big trouble coming at you), “You farse and outa place” (and doing that you have even more trouble) because you anger someone who is “Bad like crab” (violent and worse) and will make it clear, “You better hush yuh mouth before I give you something to cry or even die for.” The one that many love and cry from, as much as four, is “YUH KNOW YOU IS A TRINI IF…” It starts with, “Yuh refer to all salt crackers as “Crix.” But then it says that we know the meaning of the word “obzokie.” I’ve been in many Trini places but this is the first time I heard the word and that it means “a Trinidadian term for something or someone awkward, unbalanced, misshapen, unattractive, or out of place.”
In fact, I have a lot to learn to be a real “Trini,” even though I was born and lived here. Fortunately, I own a cutlass, and I know how to “scootch” somebody. For those who know, it is known as a “Pain in the butt.” Then they ask if you can name three types of mangoes.
In my case, we were so poor and liming with others like me, we live on mangoes, and we must have stolen at least ten different ones. There were other simple ones like “Yuh call everybody ‘dread’”, “You know what a “grip,” is and you know dat to “cuff” and “box” are fighting adjectives. We had a lot of “jaxspaniard” (Jack Spaniard) or it bite your wasp. One thing in our area, from young to old, we are clear about “Who let the dogs out?” and when we were crossing the road and a car was deliberately increasing its speed to make us jump into the dirt or water, we shouted, “Well bounce me down nah!” And, of course, I too grew up on Klim, Milo, Horlicks, and/or Ovaltine, as well as calling every carbonated beverage a “sweet drink.”
Then another Trinidadian, Suzanne Bhagan, put so assistance for the Bajans and others heading into the Carnival. In addition to understanding what Trinis call food and eating, knowing who bad kinds of people were, she also ensured that they understood behaviours and relationships while getting a laugh or two about funny Trini sayings. With food, we hear that “Better belly buss than food waste,” “Every bread has a cheese” (in other words, even the ugliest or most unattractive person is bound to find a soul mate) if only for Carnival.
And, of course, “You cyah make love on hungry belly.” Bhagan saw the bad kind of people, including “All skin teeth eh laugh,” which means, “When someone smiles at you, it doesn’t mean that person is your friend or something you can trust.” She reminded us that “Cockroach have no right in fowl party” (in which case the fowl gets eaten), “Monkey know which tree to climb” (to know how to manipulate or take advantage), and “Playing dead to ketch corbeau alive” (a vulture is a corbeau and it can be used to refer to a person who pretends to be something that it is not). Regarding Trinis commenting on behaviours and relationships, we hear, “You cyah play mas if yuh fraid power”, “When yuh neigbour house on fire wet yours”, and, all Trinis know “When de mark buss” since it is when secrets (which we love to hear) are exposed and everybody not only know but add some more.
If the outsiders, as well as some of the Trini insiders who really know our language, they will be ready for the greatest supporter of all, Elon Musk, the businessman and entrepreneur who is the wealthiest person in the world since 2021 and is worth US$779 billion. On a speech on Global Connectivity, he went beyond Trinidad and Tobago’s carnival, the gas and oil that it is famous for, and their culture. He made it clear, more than once, that Trinidad and Tobago are the unique cognitive and lignite capacity of its people. As several of my friends said, “We ready for dem,” not for trouble or to “go back home” but come and join the party and enjoy yourselves. Of course some people are saying that Muck is sucking up to Trump and is trying to get a Trini boss to support him, but at least the calypsonians don’t care who, what and why, but they are ready to rumble!!!
*Tony Deyal said that the great Lord Kitchener gave us the “Soul Train,/ Soul Train,/ Coming down the track,/ Coming down the track…” so that if any one of you want to join the rest of us, we are waiting by the track for the Train.
