Mar 30, 2016
Island Club takes away the blues 5
American visitor loves T&T 6
Southern sliver fingers 8
Crab collector 10
Guys’ day out at Salybia 12
Life at Milner Hall, UWI 13
Dictionary of TT Creole Language 14
Creole for beginners 15
Superstitions 16
The tourist trap 17
Editor’s note 4
Doubles for breakfast in Arouca 18
Salty, sweet and sour things 20
Breadfruit anyone? 22
Argyle Waterfall 24
Trinis lime in Tobago 26
Lopinot 28
Beauty from San Fernando to POS 31
Creole CornerCreole Corner
Contents
2
3
One with slight!Culture seeker Pertrice McClean
enjoys a hot tasty doubles from
Kenny the doubles man in Arouca.
See Chantelle Wilson’s story and
more photos further inside in the
Food section.
editor’s noteThe expression “culture for so” indicates that the content inside this
magazine focusses beyond Carnival and other major celebrations.
Our “culture seekers” have spent days and nights observing everyday
activities in Trinidad and Tobago that usually make people say, “This
country sweet too bad!”
When we look around, we see many joyful faces of people who
are proud to be Trinbagonians despite all the ills around them. We
have noticed that the youths never miss a concert, the women usu-
ally flood Port of Spain to shop for their perfect club outfits, the fel-
las are always planning a Maracas Beach lime, and the teenagers con-
sistently meet at the malls for the Friday fashion showdown.
We believe that it is important for us to promote all these things
in our magazine in order to shine some light on the positive happen-
ings in T&T since the negative ones have now taken over the spot-
light. Our intention is to show readers that T&T still has a lot of
sweetness in it.
In this issue, we share with you some of our own experiences and
those of other people on the topics of Lifestyle, Creole Language,
Food and Places. The magazine is packed with interesting articles
and photographs that will keep you informed and entertained. So,
whether you are a Trinidad and Tobago resident, a visitor, or a for-
eigner who has never visited, you will enjoy reading this magazine
that takes you around the beautiful islands through the eyes of the
people.
You are also invited to share with our readers your comments,
stories, photographs, poetry, or anything that relates to Trinidad and
Tobago that is more on the positive side. You may contact us on our
website at www.sweettntmagazine.com or email us at
[email protected]. Our mailing address is Culturama
Publishing Company, 31 Maitagual Road, San Juan.
Please leave your name and contact information in case we have
any questions about your contributions. Our team looks forward to
becoming interactive with you and hopes that you enjoy reading this
issue and all the others to follow as long as T&T remains as sweet as
it is today.
Joyanne James
editor
photographer Darrel Jamescaptured local beauties attending Tribe Ice forCarnival 2011.
COver page
4
editor
Joyanne James
Marketing representative
Jevan Soyer
layout/comic artist
Andrina James
logo/banner artist
Jason Banfield
Web designer/developer
Andre Harrington
Contributors
Rachael Cedeno
Kielon Hilaire
Darrel James
Chantelle Wilson
Media consultant
Andrew Pitman
Printer
TechXpress, 579 First Street,
Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, Trinidad
Credits
Publisher
Culturama Publishing Company
31 Maitagual Road, San Juan, Trinidad
Phone: 747-8560, 782-4808, 340-4085
Email: [email protected]
SWeet tnt MAgAzine iS An
online And Printed PubliCAtion
5
i heard from a friend that island Club in grand bazaar,
Champs Fleurs, was a hot spot for people who wanted a
really good lime. So i checked it out and got the views of
some of the patrons who truly loved the place for sever-
al reasons.
the most popular comment i heard was about the
music. People enjoyed listening to the soulful melodies
like Hotel California and the smooth sounds of lionel
richie and Stevie Wonder played by a live band. Some
people talked about the sweet jazz that they heard on a
Monday night. What a way to deal with those Monday
blues! one lady stated, “i usually grab one of those many
exotic cocktails available at the bar along with a compli-
mentary snack, i sit back on the couch, kick off those
heels and i enjoy a relaxing musical escape.”
People found that the ambience was incredible as it
had the “las Vegas” finish with the fancy bar from which
waitresses, dressed in sexy but tasteful costumes, car-
ried an array of colourful cocktails and other drinks back
and forth to “regulars” who seemed glued to the slot
machines.
Also, i learned that when you are early enough, you
can catch the karaoke. it begins at 9 p.m. and can prove
to be quite hilarious if the singer has had one too many,
if you know what i mean! there might also be guest
singers and they are always very good. Someone assured
me not to worry if there is no karaoke or live band or
guest performance because there is always the in-house
dJ who is quite capable of keeping the mood alive.
island Club simply has a laid-back vibe that takes
away any type of blues. the hosts are very friendly and
the patrons seem extremely happy. it is nice to know
that this club brings out the qualities that perfectly
describe our “island” people. – R Cedeno
Island Club takes away the blues
This “Yankee” talks about
Trinidad and Tobago as if it
was the love of his life.
American Martin Alleyne,
34, has been visiting these
twin Caribbean islands since
the age of 13 and has had several expe-
riences that he claims “you cannot find
anywhere else in the world”.
He was especially interested in the
Carnival season. He said people here
actually partied 24 hours a day which
was perfect for him because he was
very energetic and was a lover of the
night life. Martin states, “After my first
Carnival experience in Trinidad, man I
was psyched… there is no party like a
Trinidad party.”
He lists three things that made
partying in Trinidad so different from
what he was accustomed to. “First, it
is the length of time. When y’all
party, it’s like the party
would never stop.
Second, where
I’m from, they
stop serving alco-
hol at 2 a.m. but
here, at two in the
morning, you guys are now popping a
new bottle of Hennessy. Y’all crazy. I
like that. Third, you have an endless
supply of gorgeous women in your par-
ties, which definitely cannot compete
with parties in the rest of the world.”
Martin has been to carnivals in
Cancun, Brooklyn, Queens and all types
of Greek fests in America. In his opin-
ion, no other festival can compare with
Carnival in Trinidad. He states, “The
first time I partied here, I thought to
myself that there is nothing these peo-
ple can do that I was not prepared for
because I have been all over and I was
in shape, but I did not realise the type
of stamina you needed to party back to
back for so many days.”
Martin talks about his first Carnival
experience in Trinidad. He flew in on
Wednesday and partied both that night
and Thursday night. Then, he went to
Soca Monarch on Friday. He was awok-
en on Saturday morning to go to Port of
Spain to watch the kiddies play mas
and partied again that night until 5
a.m. On Sunday, he spent all day in
Port of Spain and went to Jouvert until
4 a.m.
On Monday morning, he was awok-
en by the sounds of drums and in the
streets of Arouca he saw people in
“Halloween costumes”. He joined in
the fun all covered in oil, paint and
more alcohol. He
says that he was
given “Puncheon”
to drink which felt
like liquid fire. “You
can keep that stuff, I’ll stick
to Hennessy,” he says.
Martin could not believe that a
party could have lasted that long.
“People were still jumping up at nine
and ten in the morning, and we kept on
drinking because the amount of pepper
you Trinis put in your food allowed you
to do that. I knew I was not prepared
for that,” he says.
“On Monday evening,” he says, “I
remember coming from ‘mud mas’ and
seeing people dressed in Carnival cos-
tumes now leaving to go and play mas.
I heard someone in my crew say that
we were going home to bathe, change
and go back out, and I said, ‘What are
you talking about? We can’t do every-
thing.’ But, I was wrong because every-
body in my crew did exactly that.”
At 9 p.m. Martin called his rela-
tives abroad to boast about his experi-
ence thus far and then fell asleep.
When he awoke, it was Tuesday night.
He states that for his first Carnival in
Trinidad, he missed the entire parade
of bands because he was too tired from
all the partying. He became the laugh-
ing stock among all his friends and fam-
ily in America.
He says, “I was disappointed that I
missed the most important event but I
am not disappointed about my trip. It
was the greatest trip of my life. I slept
so much on Tuesday that on Wednesday
I was ready for that long ride to
Maracas Beach up that mountain.”
Martin says that he was amazed with
the skills of Trinidad drivers to go up,
american visitor can’t get enough
of Trinidad and Tobago
Where I’m from,they stop servingalcohol at 2 a.m.but here, at two in the morning,
you guys are now popping a new bottle of
Hennessy. Y’allcrazy. I like that.
“
”
6
Lifestyle
I love this country!
down and around the road that leads to
Maracas Beach.
Martin told his friends about his visit
to Trinidad. “My friends in America did not
believe my story about this place called
Trinidad where people partied back to
back on the street and on the beach with
an unlimited supply of beautiful women. It
is a young man’s dream.” Every year since
then, he visits T&T around Carnival time
just to experience the craziest week of his
life and by now he has witnessed the
Parade of Bands many times.
On a different note, Martin shares
other rewarding experiences that he has
had in T&T. At age 13, his first visit was a
strange experience for him because in
America he always felt like he was “Trini
to the bone” coming from a home where
both his parents were Trinidadians. In
Trinidad however he felt like an American
because he was not accustomed to seeing
“the outside of the house looking like the
inside of the house that he lived in”. All
the images representing Trinidad culture
that were displayed in his New Jersey
home came to life on the streets of
Trinidad.
At age 24, he visited Trinidad for the
second time and saw the country in a
whole different light. Beside the parties,
Martin values the food. It was the first
time he ate a mango freshly picked from a
tree, tasted a bake and shark and ate dif-
ferent foods “with so much flavour”.
Also, he remembers visiting Tobago
and going to the Reef. “This was no book,
no magazine and no video. I was there in
the water at the Reef. It is truly an expe-
rience of a lifetime,” he says.
Finally, he comments on the crime sit-
uation. “In America, when I tell people
that I’m going to Trinidad, they say, ‘No,
you’re gonna get shot or your hand is
gonna get chopped off,’ but from my expe-
rience here, the media have blown the
crime situation way out of proportion
causing it to be talked about more by the
people and making it seem worse than in
other places.”
Martin ends by saying, “I don’t think
my stories or any video would do this coun-
try any justice. The experiences here are
so incredible that all Americans should
visit T&T and live it for themselves.”
– J James
i love this country!Lifestyle
7
My friends in America did not believe my story about this place called Trinidad
where people partied back toback on the street and on the
beach with an unlimited supply of beautiful women. It is a young man’s dream.
“
”
Martin Alleyne,
American
Meet Niola Flanders from Palo Seco. Talk about
talent! I honestly don’t think that there is any-
thing she cannot do when it comes to hair and
nails.
From weave-on to extensions, corn rows, single
plaits, colouring, eyebrow shaping, nail extension, mani-
cure and pedicure, twist, locks, straightening, you name
it and I can bet you Niola can do it. And mind you, these
are skills that she did not acquire through any formal
training. The girl just has crazy skills!
When she left school Niola was faced with many of
the challenges that are still confronting young people
today like lack of money and the pull toward bad influ-
ences and company. Instead of choosing to be negative,
however, she decided to transform the talent that she
had into a career.
At first she would braid hair for people that she
knew, at her own home or by making house calls.
Satisfied customers spread the word by mouth pretty fast
and soon she was unable to handle all of the business she
attracted. Sometimes she would employ her sister and
cousin to do some of her jobs. Gradually she began to
feel like she had built up a large enough regular clientele
Southernsliver fingers
8
Lifestyle
9
LifestyleSouthern sliver fingers
base and that is when she decided to do
it full time.
Today Niola works from under her
house. She has set up a very attractive
station from which you can see her
working from 8 a.m. until 12 at night on
some days (though official hours are 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.)
For Niola, being able to wake up
every day and go to work doing some-
thing that she loves is an amazing feel-
ing and she relishes the challenge to be
more and more creative each day.
She says that business has been
good from day one but she still
sometimes feels like she must
keep herself current and this
has made her recently desire to
do short courses to become
officially certified in her
trade. If you ask me though,
many people will study for a
long time and never be as good
as she is.
So, do you have a little
talent when it comes to
styling hair and nails and you’ve proven
that you have the patience to sit for
hours on end while your brothers, sis-
ters, cousins and neighbours come and
let you do your thing? Are people
always complimenting you on how neat
or quick you plait and style braids?
If your brain is always ticking with
new ideas about weaving hair or styling
cane rows and sometimes you can just
see someone and know what styles will
look good on them, please tell me why
you have never thought about owning
your own salon! Take an example from
Niola and become one of T&T’s young
successful entrepreneurs. – R Cedeno
Life for Herman Preira of Arima is
incredibly simple. Ask people what
they do for a living and rarely the
response is, “I’m a crab collector.”
Preira is one of the most hospitable men
I’ve ever come across. He has been catch-
ing crabs for over 15 years and says he will
continue doing it for another millennium.
He states that what drew him to his
nifty profession was the fact that it led
him to enjoy a rather relaxing life. “No
pesky traffic to fight through each day, no
good-for-nothing boss to answer to, and
no daily stress of putting up with annoying
and tittle-tattle co-workers,” he said.
The calm blue waters of harmony and
cordial customers are all he really needs
to liaise with each day. He never stops
enjoying it for he believes that living on
the ocean’s brink will always remain a
thought for so many other dreamers.
What may seem like an easy thing to
do is rather complicated to the inexperi-
enced. Catching crab is accomplished by a
simple but ingenious method. Living near
the sea naturally allows you to see thou-
sands of crabs roaming across the earth
every year, and that is all the motivation
Preira needs.
Why not set a “giant rat trap”? Clever,
isn’t it? Preira says every year crabs
spread all over Trinidad in colonies of mil-
lions. He says a female crab takes about
18 months to become fully grown, ulti-
mately producing between 50,000 and
70,000 eggs (with an incubation period of
3 to 4 months) during her laying period.
Even if you are not good at maths, surely
all those zeroes could get your head spin-
ning. Simply multiply 50,000 by 100 crabs
and you already have 5 million of the
creepy little critters.
Preira uses homemade crab traps to
capture crabs. He says they are fairly size-
able (almost two feet in length), made of
bamboo, and inside the trap’s hollow nest
is a man-made rig that is craftily set to go
off whenever the crab makes its way
inside the bamboo with the intention of
stealing the hot pepper, coconut, pine, or
lime bait. But contrastingly to the physics
of a rat trap, a crab trap does not harm
the crab. All it does is lock the crab inside
the trap itself.
Traps are placed on the shores on a
daily basis, and are checked at least once
per day. Preira has made it his duty since
the 90s to head down to the shores from
as early as 7 o’clock each morning to set
the endless traps he articulately designed.
After all the easy work is over, the
real task begins. Once the crabs lose their
Herman Preira
Lifestyle
The crab collectorThe crab collector
10
freedom to the traps, Preira reaps his
investments and carefully sits and plans
what must be done with them. The major-
ity of crabs are used by Preira and his cus-
tomers to create one of Trinidad and
Tobago’s signature dishes, crab and
dumpling. Some crabs he keeps as pets,
and the remainder he shares with family
and friends. At the time I was invited into
his home, some of his “pets” were idly
roaming about his outdoor premises. The
only possible game to play was “snap my
finger”.
Preira had been busily preparing a
“crab vine” for a customer during the
interview. He ties all the legs of each crab
together with a solid vine and then he fur-
ther ties this onto one long vine. In the
end, the crab vine closely resembles the
strings which are often cluttered with
Christmas tree light bulbs — just picture
crabs replacing the coloured bulbs.
It is true that crabs are cherished del-
icacies that are second to the more covet-
ed lobsters. But there are a few facts one
might like to consider when comparing the
two. First and most important, lobsters
are very expensive! Sure lobsters are big-
ger, sweeter, and are often labelled as
being more sophisticated, but think about
it, as good as they are how many people
can afford to eat them every day?
The difference with crabs is that
there is almost an infinite supply of them.
Crabs cost much less than one-tenth the
price of a full grown lobster, making it
possible to eat them as much as one might
eat hops bread. Preira’s prices range from
TT $4.50 to $12 and he sells them in the
Arima market.
Preira shares a few other interesting
facts about crabs: In order to tell the sex
of the crabs you simply flip them over and
it is fairly obvious that the female always
has a much larger underbelly than the
male. Typically, she was designed that way
in order for her pouch to contain her eggs.
Crabs also release a distress signal when
they are in danger, in the form of a froth-
like substance.
Preira explains that crabs are general-
ly spotted in two colours: brown and blue.
The blue crabs, known as water crabs, are
more commonly seen and the brown ones
are the mountain types. Mountain crabs
are less likely to be encountered since
heavy rains need to bathe the mountains
in order to chase them out of their home
crevices.
Preira says there are two different
times that you would most likely
encounter a “crab party” (crabs seen in
such abundance that the ocean’s music
could make them dance): anytime during
the months of June to December (T&T’s
rainy season) and at night-time whenever
the moon is full and causes the tides to
grow high.
Finally, Preira gladly shares his expe-
rience of being attacked by a crab. He
says that at one time recently, a crab claw
had clung onto his finger for about half an
hour. He had a bunch of them inside a bar-
rel and was inserting some grass into the
container to separate the crabs from
fighting with each other. The crab saw its
meat and took a hearty snap at his deli-
cious finger, leaving Preira with only its
claw for him to remember the experience.
Each time he tried to remove the claw
that clamped down on his finger, the pain
worsened to horrific extents.
Since the crab’s claw had been no
longer part of its body, Herman merely
waited for the life in the claw to drain out
itself, bearing the pain all the while. He
simply removed the crab’s arm and imme-
diately soaked his finger in ice water. “Try
to imagine sharp edged pliers squeezing
your finger with maximum force if you
want to know how it felt,” he said.
According to Preira, catching crabs is
a whole lot of fun once you know what you
are doing. While some people do it as a
hobby, others do it to make a decent liv-
ing. Although Preira may not be a million-
aire just yet, there are still plenty more
crabs for him to catch and plenty more
“crab and dumpling” menus to fill.
– K Hilaire
Lifestylethe crab collector
11
12
These fellas in my picture show
that being happy is the only thing
that concerns them, and they
have every right to amuse them-
selves, especially since the cost of gen-
uine entertainment has gotten so high
these days. They know how to take advan-
tage of the Caribbean vibes, the amiable
populace, and how to let loose and just
have an insanely good time.
If you are really that curious, it may
be of a little ease to know that these fel-
las were merely spending a Sunday after-
noon at a beachside within the nature-
filled town, Beach Break, Salybia. A surf-
ing exhibition was scheduled to begin in
an hour or so, and the guys had taken it
upon themselves to just sit back and make
use of the extra time, by simply talking
amongst each other and wolfing down a
couple of ice-cold beers.
They littered the streets with their
pickups, pinned themselves at the summit
of the hillside grass, as well as to the back
of their trucks; there was also a case of
Stag, over a dozen guys on the scene, and
just two or three young women in the mix.
In T&T, the above spells a recipe for
complete chaos, the good kind though.
The music oozing from the car speakers,
the warmth of the sun, and the boisterous
people sitting at the roadside eagerly
awaiting the chance to talk to friends,
strangers, sons and daughters, as though
they each stemmed from a lone family.
Loaded for the day, this crew had
even brought along their water coolers,
home-cooked food, and a change of
clothes for the occasion. As the guys sat
there, all cool and hassle-free, they knew
it was only a matter of time before a
“farse and boldface” woman would inter-
ject herself into their personal time.
She was a pretty brave one, too, hav-
ing the audacity to pick up one of the dis-
tinct green bottles from the guys’ cooler,
put it to her mouth, then drink “a man’s
beer” just like that; but, after everything,
the guys always remain aware that they
are jovial citizens of T&T, and as our say-
ing goes, “We lime, we dine, we have a
good time, as long as all ah we is one.”
– K Hilaire
at Salybia
Guys’ day out
Lifestyle
13
Lifestyle
The hall of
halls
“Milner Hall is the best
hall, the hall of
halls, the only hall.”
These are the words of a group of
“Milnerites” sitting outside the
building of their residence. The
group who are students of the
University of the West Indies state
that the hall is “one of quality”,
and in that respect they see this
hall as being in a class of its own.
Older than UWI itself,
“Milner” was the first hall of resi-
dence to be erected on the campus
way back in 1927 and has had a
strong tradition of excellence
since then. Today, it is the largest
of the three halls and still remains
dominant in its presence and con-
tribution to the university.
According to the current Vice
Hall Chairperson, Johnathan
Thatcher, over its 81-year history,
the hall has had the pleasure of
nurturing and producing, within its
celebrated family, a wealth of
regional and international leaders
and professionals. Strolling through
the corridors, you will meet a truly
representative cross section of stu-
dents hailing from almost every
island of the Caribbean and even
Canada and North America, and
here they are all one family.
“Being on hall is not just about
having a place to sleep,” says Erica
who has lived on the hall for some
years. “We have a strictly devel-
oped culture, it is like a fraternity.
There is always something going on.
Everyone on campus knows that we
dominate all activities social and
academic,” she boasts. “Our annu-
al Hall Concert is the most antici-
pated event of the semester and
the after-party is always packed to
capacity. Our debating and football
teams constantly blow away the
competition, producing excellence
on demand. We have a tradition of
being nothing but the best.”
Evidently, this hall continues to
produce the holistic individual that
is needed in this ever-evolving soci-
ety. As Johnathan so confidently
puts it, “The next time sit in class,
take a look around, identify that
person who is knowledgeable, tal-
ented, innovative, approachable,
compassionate, professional and
considerably good looking and I
assure you that this person is a
Milnerite.”
The certainty of excellence
expressed by these students can
surely encourage new students to
beg for an opportunity to experi-
ence “Milner” life. Maybe students
at other halls on campus would
have something just as positive to
say about their halls. A visit to
Canada Hall or Trinity Hall might
just be a great idea.
– R Cedeno
Creole Corner
Imagine a foreign linguist spent 30
years of her life studying our
Trinidad and Tobago Creole lan-
guage, and wrote about it. Lise
Winer launched this gift to
Trinbagonians in April 2009 and called it “a
start” in making the language codified.
She spoke to linguistic students and lec-
turers at the University of the West Indies,
St Augustine, about her journey towards
creating the Dictionary of the
English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago.
She says that in 1979, the only foun-
dation she had for written Creole in the
Caribbean was a Jamaican English diction-
ary which was an excellent model, but
since the overlap in Jamaican and TT lan-
guages was very low her task was
extremely challenging.
She states, “There is a difference
between adding, improving, and starting
from scratch with no substantial info,”
and since there was no previous study of
TT Creole she needed a master plan to
separate the language of hardcore Creole
speakers from those that were closer to
the English language.
Winer’s plan included the use of polit-
ical and historical texts as boundaries for
her study. She found that basilect dialects
were very similar but as people separated
and moved around during slavery the lan-
guages adopted differences. Some differ-
ences in sound that she lists are “flim” vs
“film”, “pappy show” vs “puppet show”,
and English plural words used as singular
such as “a pants” and “a mice”.
Then there are words that sound the
same but have different meanings such as
“fowl” in English which means chicken,
duck or turkey, but in TT Creole “fowl”
means chicken only. A “tree” in English is
known to be big and woody, but in TT
Creole there is a “tomato tree” and not a
plant. Some words, she says, are unique
such as “obzocky” and “broughtupsy”.
Also, there are words that people think
are local but are not such as “bamboozle”.
For years, Winer’s duty was to recog-
nise words and sentences, and then find
them. She says, “Professors called me a
word hunter.” She started her search in a
pan yard but could not approach people as
a researcher because people usually act
differently when they know they are being
studied. So when she sat in a taxi, she just
had to listen to conversations and only
record them on paper from her memory at
home.
One helpful resource for her was the
novel House of Mr Biswas by Vidya Naipaul
but since the TT Creole language kept on
shifting over the years, she became very
uncomfortable in using it as a reliable
source. She had to depend on friends to
verify the sounds, meanings and usage of
words and sentence structures.
One major problem she faced was
meeting people who were trying to be
helpful by being accommodating. She
Long live
Lise Winer holds
her 30-year
accomplishment
14
15
Creole Cornerlong live tt Creole
For times of infinity, numerous
languages have been spoken by
various ethnicities with the pri-
mary aspiration of communicat-
ing effectively whenever human heads
collide with each other – French,
Chinese, Spanish, Japanese – you get
the point.
Without the utilisation of these
twisted tongues, chaos might have been
the only language that the world would
have ever found. Can you name each
and every language that is currently
alive today? Chances are, unless you
recently travelled “around the world in
80 days”, you will be stomped before
you know it.
Nonetheless, there is one language
which some may call “the forbidden
language” that belongs to the people of
Trinidad and Tobago, and although the
majority of words come from English,
there are a number of unique words and
sentence structures that make it most
difficult to teach as a second language.
This article serves only to enlighten
non-TT Creole speakers about some of
the things that Trinbagonians say and,
quite frankly, it is impossible to grasp
the deepest mechanics of our local
tongue in a few words.
Our popular greeting, “Waz de
scene?” means in English, “What’s the
scene?” and the answer is usually, “I
dey,” meaning, “I’m there,” or “I’m
good.” Some may further respond with,
“I on like christophene,” in order to
rhyme with “scene”, or “I on like boil
corn.” Christophene and corn are com-
monly used vegetables in Trinidad and
Tobago. Yes, we are very creative!
A young man may tell an elderly
shopkeeper, “Tantie, dem pie and dem
looking rel good boy!” The word
“tantie” is used primarily to show
respect when addressing elderly women
and the phrase “and dem” is used to
pluralise nouns.
There is even a certain way to
speak when ordering food. One of our
traditional foods called “doubles” made
with two barra and channa is a delicacy
that almost every Trinbagonian cannot
live without. If you approach a doubles
vendor, the quickest and most appropri-
ate way to get what you want is to say,
“Gimme one with no pepper, one with-
out, one with slight, one with mango
alone, or one just so.”
“Doodoo, take care!” Hold up one
second, doodoo? Isn’t that something
that dogs do out on the grass? Well,
“doodoo” is actually a “sweet name”
that one should be thankful to receive.
The word has the equivalent meaning of
the word “deary” which is often used by
older women when speaking to young
people. It generally means that you
have attained a small portion of their
intellectual approval as well as a little
of their respect.
“Kill you dead” is another classical
local expression. This means that you
think you are right about something.
Many girls say, “Kill she dead she look-
ing good!” Some people may say, “Kill
dem dead, we don’t know dey robbing
we!”
“Reds!” “Dougla!” “Darkie!” These
are standard greetings that quite a few
men use to address attractive women.
Here in Trinidad and Tobago, calling
people by their race and skin colour is
perfectly natural and some men even
end up with hot dates in the end. This
does not mean that we go along calling
everyone we love “Whites”, “Blacks”,
“Yellows” and “Browns”! There are spe-
cific names that are commonly used.
One popular corny line is, “Gyal,
yuh on like boil corn!”
Our language may seem complicat-
ed because we are one of the most cre-
ative people in the world. So, the next
time you feel like taking up a foreign
language, why not learn the T&T lan-
guage by conversing with our people
and using our dictionaries. If you
become a fluent speaker of T&T’s lan-
guage, you will not regret it.
– K Hilaire
says, “Some people fit meaning with
words, like at one time I asked someone if
a macco house means that a house is fancy
and he said, ‘Well yeah,’ while other peo-
ple said, ‘Not really, it means that it is
big,’ so you have to investigate different
domains all the time.”
Winer says that the longest entry in
her dictionary is the word Creole. This
word was very challenging for her because
there are many meanings for the word
Creole, all of which are valid. She had a
problem writing definitions for each use of
the word Creole because the meanings
vary among the population. The common
uses are Creole person, Creole food,
Creole language, and Creole culture.
She closes on the note that she is con-
fident that her study goes beyond many
existing TT Creole dictionaries today espe-
cially the ones found on the Internet. In
her search for the meaning of the word
“schupidee” online, she found a TT web-
site that gave the meaning “a stupid per-
son”. However, her audience at UWI gave
many more meanings including: a person
who is easily taken advantage of, but not
necessarily stupid; one who is awkward; or
a very funny friend. Winer’s exercise was
just a taste of what she had to go through
for over ten thousand words.
So, while some people in T&T are still
telling their children that they need to
speak “properly” or English, there are
people from other countries who are
dependent on what they have to say the
old fashioned local way so that the lan-
guage of T&T can actually live on.
– J James
Trinbago languagefor beginners
16
recently, I was liming with a
cousin who grew up abroad and
the difficulties she had in
understanding my expressions
made me realise that a lot of the local
sayings we use every day are actually
quite unique.
I mean, sometimes you know that,
but when you actually experience it in
conversation you can be amazed at how
much of the language that we use is
inspired by our oral tradition,
i.e. stories, and our environ-
ment, nature and animals or,
should I say, our special ways of
referring to them. There is a
very colourful inventory from
which we draw upon to
express our desires, hopes and feelings in
unique ways.
When my cousin complained about a
mutual friend of ours, I told her, “Monkey
know which tree tuh climb, she cyah
come rong me with that schupidness!”
And she just looked at me funny like she
was going to ask what monkey I was talk-
ing about. Usually I would have just
repeated the phrase in Standard English
but then I always feel like if I sacrificed
something in terms of its true
meaning and effectiveness.
Even though it is true
that she didn’t grow up
here, she still does have
some Trini blood in her
so she should know at
least a little something.
Feeling in the
mood to tackle this
seemingly impossible problem and to do
some serious damage control, I thought it
would be really cool if I could teach her
some of the local slangs and she was
actually very enthusiastic to learn. I
decided to give her an education,
“Local Sayings 101”. I asked her
to tell me the sayings that she
did not understand and I
tried to explain them as best as
I could. To my surprise some
of the expressions have
become so normal that they
were very hard to explain. It
made me realise that I might
need a little refresher course
myself. These are my humble
attempts at explanations:
If I say “crapaud
smoke yuh pipe” I’m
telling you that you’re in a
lot of trouble. Literally the
craupaud refers to those huge
ugly frogs that are so prevalent in the
rainy season. The image of one of them
sucking on your personal pipe is not
exactly pleasing.
“Monkey see monkey do” is similar
to the copycat concept. Of course calling
someone a monkey is admittedly a lit-
tle harsher.
“Goat doh make sheep”
refers to the belief that bad
parents can’t raise good
children; in other words the apple does-
n’t fall far from the tree.
“Playing dead tuh catch corbeaux
alive.” I wasn’t too sure about this one
myself but after some consultation the
general consensus was that it must mean
you’re pretending to know less than you
really do in order to catch someone doing
something wrong.
“Pot calling kettle bottom black.”
You’re in the same position as I am but
you think that you’re somehow
better than me.
“Mouth open and tory
jump out.” Similar to letting
the cat out of the bag but
with a local spin. It means
you talk so much that you
end up saying things you
shouldn’t have said.
“Monkey know which tree tuh
climb.” People know who they can say or
do things to without having to suffer
repercussions for their actions.
They are also smart enough to
target these people.
These are just a few that I
attempted to tackle but I’m
sure that you can probably think
of a dozen more. Why not write to
me at [email protected]
and tell me about the ones you know and
include your own short explanation for
each. It would be cool to explore our
uniqueness in terms of language.
– R Cedeno
popular sayings in
Trinidad and Tobago
Creole Corner
Mouth open and tory jump out
Tourists Bengie and Sharma come
to Trinidad for a vacation. They
want to see something grand.
Bengie, the husband, is a pho-
tographer and he and his wife
make a first stop at a canyon where they
spot a cave in the distance. As they are
about to walk up to the cave, a young Trini
man and woman exit and stand before the
grotto. Their clothes are dirty, fully tat-
tered, and there’s an abundance of hair on
their faces. Together they look up at the
sun and yawn to their delight.
Sharma grows excited. “Look, Bengie,
Caribbean apes!” And she freely points at
the Trini couple.
The alleged “apes” see that they are
being watched and appear to have question
marks over their heads.
“Should we shoot them?” Sharma asks
Bengie.
The Trini man becomes annoyed as he gapes
at the tourists. “Why all yuh doh shoot all yuh
mother...!”
Sharma starts jumping up and down. “It
talks, Bengie! It talks!”
“Yeah, I can see that,”
Bengie responds. “I think I’m
gonna shoot them.” Bengie
tries to withdraw his camera
from his pants pocket.
The Trini couple’s eyes bulge
out of their heads. “Duck, Sheldon! Duck!” the
woman says to the “ape-looking” man beside
her. They both cover their heads and run into
the cave.
Benjie the photographer scratches his head,
“What the...?”
Meanwhile, inside the cave, “You think they
bought it?” Sheldon asks the woman.
“I dunno,” the woman says unconvincingly.
“That’s why I’m always glad we took this job,
minus the dress-up part though,” says Sheldon.
“Anyway, they want scenery? Just like that cou-
ple last week, let’s give em something unique
to talk about.”
“What d’you have in mind, this time?”
“Hmm, can I borrow the Cybershot?” says
Sheldon.
The woman sighs. She sounds bored. “Oh, that again?”
“Coming up with new ways to entertain tourists eh easy,
you know.”
“Oh well,” the woman says, “at least we get paid for this.”
She then walks about the cave until she is able to pick up the
Cybershot. She gives it to Sheldon.
“Thanks,” Sheldon says. “And what will you be doing in
here in the meantime?”
“Well, I think BET’s doing that special on Michael Jackson
today. I’ll watch that, then I’ll probably just check out
some old episodes of Friends and Family Guy. Oh, and
about the tourists, try to get at least one good shot this
time, right?”
Sheldon prepares to leave the cave.
Outside the cave… the tourists are still standing in
awe, waiting for something spectacular to happen.
“What the heck are those apes doing in
there?” Sharma asks Bengie.
“I dunno,” the husband replies.
“Wanna check it out?”
The wife nods. But just as
they’re about to inch closer,
Sheldon comes dashing out of
the cave, with an elite camera
that’s thrice the size of theirs.
He begins taking snapshots of
the tourists like there’s no
tomorrow.
“Would ya look at that,”
Bengie says excitedly. “The apes
here are quite advanced.”
Sheldon barks, “Who’s the monkey now,
eh?”
– K Hilaire
A tale portraying
the misconception
held by many
foreigners about
Caribbean people
The tourist trap
17
Creole Corner
Imagine it’s eight o’clock in the morn-
ing, you have already left home for
work, but because of the early morn-
ing rush you leave home without eat-
ing breakfast. As you stand on the Main
Road by Lopinot Junction awaiting a maxi,
your stomach howls at you and all you can
think about now is where to get a quick,
filling, tasty and cheap breakfast. A beam
of light suddenly falls on Kenny’s Hot &
Tasty Doubles. Your eyes are drawn to the
stand while your nose, stolen by the
aroma, guides you towards a crowd.
“Let me get three with slight pepper
to go!” In no time, Kenny done fix you up
while Jenny handling the money. Although
Kenny and Jenny have been serving the
public their hot and tasty doubles for 26
years, they have been selling at Lopinot
Junction for seven years, and with cus-
tomers numbering over 70 daily, he says he
doesn’t plan on ever stopping.
The couple live in the community of
Doublesfor breakfast
in arouca
Food
18
Bon Air West, Arouca. They come out at
5.30 in the morning and leave at 12.00
noon every day. Preparation of the deli-
cious doubles usually starts at 12.00 a.m.
With ingredients like shadon beni, hot pep-
per sauce, flavoursome chutney, filling
bara and mouth-watering channa, both the
regular and new customers are always sat-
isfied and continue wanting more.
One customer commented, “Nah boy,
this doubles tasting real good,” while
another added, “Yeah, you doh ever disap-
point me boy.” According to Kenny, while
most people usually buy three and four
doubles at a time, there are some who
order 20 at once. Many of the other cus-
tomers made similar comments about the
doubles expressing their satisfaction and
gratitude.
Now, you cannot give the people
something to eat and leave them thirsty!
Along with the hot and tasty doubles,
Kenny and Jenny also serve a variety of
drinks such as bottled juices and soft
drinks. By the time you are through, you
have gotten the quick, filling, tasty and
cheap meal that you needed; in other
words, “that doubles do de trick”!
– C Wilson
19
Fooddoubles for breakfast in Arouca
20
Iwas on my merry way, traversing the Valencia main,
when I saw all the colourful items inside the glass bot-
tles on the shop-table and thought, ooooooo, candy!
Then I saw Amy, the shopkeeper, and told myself, STOP!
I have to find out more… about the food, that is. One thing
you don’t see in T&T as often as before is a parlour (better
known by locals as a miniature grocery or snack-shop).
Most parlours are usually known to vend the basic
household items as well as a couple snacks. Amy’s shop, how-
ever, takes a slightly different approach: throw out the bread
and butter, who needs those things? Why not sell rare
Caribbean treats that can satisfy the greatest sweet, sour,
Sweet,salt or
sour... what frame of
mouth are you in?
21
salty, spicy, and even bitter cravings? Mango
chow (made by Amy herself), salted-prunes,
“Chinee” mango, sunflower bars, nut-
cakes, black prunes, ginseng sweets … and
the list can go on.
I happened to try a few of her products
and I must say that the green mango delica-
cy should please the pickiest of chow lovers
— it has the standard zing of pepper and
everything. If you are in the mood for some-
thing more on the strange side, the ginseng
sweetie is definitely worth a try; it gets extra
points for having an unsmooth texture that is unde-
niably unique.
Amy’s parlour has so much to choose from that it is almost
impossible that you won’t find yourself coming back for more,
especially since it’s likely that you would not be able to try all
her goods in one sitting. She even has those yummy gummy bears
that everyone seems to like. In the mood for ice prunes? She has
these, too; these are the white, frosty-looking ones that look
like giant raisins and initially feel like powder as they enter
your mouth, they quickly gush out a blast of intense sweet-
ness the more you suck on them.
Conversely, if you scan Amy’s table well enough,
you’ll find that she also carries some extra condiments that
would spruce up a variety of other foods. Be it bottles of
naturally produced honey, hot pepper sauce or pickles,
you’re certain to find something to flavour your tongue no
matter what frame of mouth you’re in! – K Hilaire
FoodSweet, salt or sour
get it roasted, fried, steamed or ‘oil-down’get it roasted, fried, steamed or ‘oil-down’
anyone?
This one is for all those
ardent breadfruit lovers
out there. Quick ques-
tion: Did you know that
the breadfruit is not indigenous to
this region? Back in the 18th cen-
tury it was actually transported by
ships from the Polynesian islands
to the British colonies of the
Caribbean. Why? Well it was
brought here primarily to be food
for the slaves who worked on the
plantations harvesting cane,
cocoa and other crops.
Now, for it to be considered
good enough only to be slave
food, you could imagine the stig-
ma and shame that was linked to
eating it both in the years during
and after slavery. Actually, even
up till today in many other
Caribbean islands, people still
hold this attitude and consequent-
ly they have a strong aversion to
its consumption, believing that it
identifies them as poor or low
class.
What amazes me though is
that if I had never actually looked
it up, probably I would have never
known about this disgraceful past.
In Trinidad anytime you hear
somebody cooking breadfruit, the
reaction people have is like “Wuh!
Ah passing back with meh plate in
five!” Far from being linked with
the hardships of that perilous cen-
tury, the mere thought of a bread-
fruit is enough to make mouths
water and create feelings of
uncontrollable hunger; or should I
say greed and longing? So many
people love it!
It has an irresistible flavour
which satisfies and leaves you
anticipating your next encounter.
My grandmother likes to serve it
boiled in coconut milk, seasoned
to perfection with her homemade
seasonings and fire sauce! She
usually tops it off with a little but-
ter as soon as it comes out of the
pot, still steaming. Then she
might add some smoke herring in
a th ick savoury sauce, the kind
that will make you want to lick
your fingers, the spoon and the
plate! Add a healthy slice of fresh
avocado, or zaboca as we say, to
make a meal that was already
perfect soar to heights of the sub-
lime. Oh gosh! Ah tasting it now!
Hmm!
And there are so many other
ways to enjoy this versatile fruit
both in its ripe and green state. It
can be roasted, fried, steamed,
and of course there is the ever
popular oil-down, a dish that has
the power to attract and keep a
crowd.
Still stunned that the bread-
fruit was slave food? Don’t worry,
they say Trinis have a knack for
transforming bad into good and
isn’t this a beautiful example of
that? So next time you pass a
breadfruit tree take a moment to
reflect on what you now know and
take pride in what we have creat-
ed. – R Cedeno
22
Food
Places
24
Ihad the pleasure of visiting our sister isle and
encountering one of the most beautiful natural
wonders that I have ever seen, the Argyle
Waterfall. Located not more than 20 minutes’
walk from the beautiful village from which it gets
its name, it is a truly spectacular site and defi-
nitely worth the few mosquito bites you may get
along the way.
I read afterwards that Argyle is the tallest
waterfall on the island (175 feet), which didn’t
surprise me as I remember the deafening sound of
the water crashing onto the rock at the highest level
of the fall and how it cascaded down what seemed
like a natural staircase (which only had 3 steps). It
was simply amazing!
The official trail is easy and there are tour
guides available at a reasonable price to show you
the way. Being the thrill-seekers that we humans are
(and also because we were playing cheap), the group
that I went with agreed to let one of the unof-
ficial tour guides (a local who was just hustling)
show us the way. Don’t worry, nothing horrible
happened, our guide was actually quite profes-
sional and by the end of the day he was a part
of the gang. Anyway, back to the waterfall.
At the bottom there is a calm spot where
the river flows quietly over the smooth rocks,
an ideal place for small children and anyone
who just wants to kick back, relax and enjoy
nature.
But if you’re looking for a rush why not
climb to the very top and feast your eyes on
the raw power of nature. Some people said
that if you stand under the water at the top it
gives you the best massage and that if lovers
kiss under the water they will stay together
forever.
I don’t know about that, but what I can say
is that if you’re planning a trip to the Argyle
Waterfall, be sure to carry some repellant,
wear good shoes and long pants as a precau-
tion, and of course carry a camera because this
place will simply blow you away! – R Cedeno
Argyle Waterfallin Tobago
Blown away by
26
Places
dazzling outfits. My friends and I enjoyed
ourselves in the party as we danced to
soca, dancehall, hip-hop, R&B and rap
music.
On the third day we went on the
glass boat rides where the captains Kern
and Randy ensured that we had a good
time. We went deep-sea diving and
snorkelling, and even visited the famous
Nylon Pool. We surely planned an inter-
esting vacation and the experience
turned out to be a memorable one for us
old school friends.
So, if you would like to share a story
like this one that makes people wish that
they were in your shoes, then write to
Make sure the occasion is a fun-filled
one with lots of exciting activities like
the lime planned by my crew.
– C Wilson
27
29
lopinot for relaxation and parangPlaces
30
Placeslopinot for relaxation and parang
31