On my way to Seoul, I found a ridiculous description of “Trini language”

I’m officially tired.

In 36 hours, I would have done the following

• Edmonton to Vancouver
• Vancouver to Toronto – stopped off for an all day meeting downtown
• Toronto to Vancouver then to Seoul, South Korea.

Of course, I’m researching everything to do or eat in Korea and I’ve stumbled on some great blogs including this guy’s blog. Pretty good stuff on here, then I saw that he had also passed through Trinidad, obviously I had to read what he wrote on Trinidad. I have to say, it made me laugh … not in the good way but in that way you laugh at “special people”. I know that my blog gets a lot of traffic and I try to represent my thoughts in a somewhat coherent fashion and I also try to ensure that “my facts” are actually facts. So here I am reading this guy’s post on Trinidad and then I stumble on this nugget of information “I must also add that the main language here is “Trini” a kind of funky Caribbean dialect with a hint of English”

WTF?

Seriously!!! Someone could say that about Irish Gaelic … which wouldn’t be true, but it would be more true than the statement above. Now I know that this chap got his information from some random hustling taxi driver at the airport … but c’mon, check the facts before you write.

Here is the comment I posted on his blog

Seeing that I’m from Trinidad … I had to offer a couple corrections on your post.

1. The pictures in the airport are previous Prime Ministers and Governor Generals – not local celebrities 😀
2. The main language is English. Trini is just an accent/dialect … it’s Irish Gaelic is an actual language. There is a difference.
3. Port of Spain is the largest city on the island. I’m from Chaguanas – it’s definitely not as large as POS geographically. Population wise POS – should encompass Laventille, Diego Martin etc.
4. Speaking Spanish in Trinidad is rude – the only people who speak Spanish in Trinidad are drug dealers and Colombian/Venezuelan prostitutes. True story
5. Solomon Hochoy … not Salaman Ocho whatever you said.
6. NP is National Petroleum
7. Your taxi driver showed you the Beetham/Laventille area with the “gas tanks” – i.e. the slums
8. The statue on the Promenade is not Brian Lara but A.A. Cipriani. Thankfully you read the sign 😀
9. Sorry about getting crappy doubles …
10. Excellent City Center is not a claim, but a brand. As you’ve been to Asia, you can now understand. Excellent is owned by Chinese people.
11. People don’t get water from hydrants.

Anyway thanks for the blog fodder … too bad that you got a shit tour from some hustler – but you were on a layover, so not much could really be expected.

I don’t know what annoyed me more … the Trini taking advantage of this guy, him thinking he was super smart or the abject lack of researching anything. Also him complaining about the pictures that the “tour” guide was taking for him … the taxi driver probably couldn’t even understand his Irish accent.

Anyway … I’ve learned that if you want to be completely lazy when blogging … just type some garbage and put a picture of a pretty girl or two on it.

Update : Here was the authors comment to me on another post (classy guy I tell you) : Oh so now you DO speak Trini? Bloody hypocrite and hardly my fault if you have no sense of humour or dont realise the fact that I f**king know those pictures in the airport are of political figures, the very sentence that says “celebrities via politics” should give it away. Politicians are celebrities too. Next time I’ll just stay in the airport since you don’t feel proud to be from Trinidad or welcome visitors to your country. I’ve given it enough publicity for you. Buck eejit.

PS – the word “couple” in English means 2. Get your facts right before you start moaning like an old woman on speed.