confessions of a reformed tourist
West Indian slang for ejaculate (both the noun and the verb) is “break”. I thought, at first, that this was kind of weird, but the more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense. Break? Break. Break! Yes. Exactly. There’s also a saying, something that you ask people who are just not hearing [...]
Once upon a time, I was liming at my favorite Grenadian beach bar, throwing some darts. (“Liming” is Caribbean slang for “hanging out”.) A friend was teasing me. I don’t remember what about, precisely, but it was probably the fact that I always had a book with me. Always. Even whilst drinking. Generally I’m a [...]
I crossposted yesterday’s “on accents” to my Tumblr, and two of the responses (reblogs) I got were so interesting I can’t resist quoting them here. The first to weigh in was adsinfinitum, who wrote: Another point of interest for me is how people are so determined to assign you an accent. How they feel the [...]
I’m always amused when I hear someone make a definitive declaration regarding his or her lack of accent. Or, even funnier, statements such as “there is no such thing as a British accent”. Because of course you do and of course there is. I can understand how, for example, a person from England might bristle [...]
(The following is a random thought I had this morning. It’s all true but it’s so “Maria being Maria” I couldn’t keep a straight face while writing it.) I’m not from the South, I’m a New Yorker. But I do indeed say “y’all” which is something I picked up whilst living in Paris and if [...]
Lately I’ve been worried that I’m mentally losing touch with Grenada. That I’m no longer an honorary West Indian. That I’ve lost my “spice”. And then today I was watching Bean try to put the peel back on a banana and I thought to myself: “What de ass do he?” Ah still got it.
I am so tired. So very tired. I haven’t gotten more than four hours of sleep a night for weeks. Every night, after everyone in the house FINALLY retires to bed, I am so thrilled with the silence and my solitude that I stay up doing stupidness* until 3. Even though I’m totally exhausted. The [...]
