TANTIE TALK:

Well chile allyuh doh know how much allyuh gladden mih heart dese last few days gone. I was going tru de little address book dat I does keep by
de telephone, de one dat I get from dat nice fella at International Trust all dem years ago. Dat is de one in which I does keep all de email address and phone number and ting when I realise dat is like I ent hear from a whole setta people in a long time.

Is den I realise dat instead ah saying dat how dem feel dey too social to keep in touch I shoulda drop dem a line nuh. So when I did send out
mih little note last week and get all ah dem replies it did mek me feel good in trute! Now let we deal wid some serious business. De nex time
dat yuh ent hear from me in a while doh sit dong and feel dat ah dead or dey tek me away to de Infirmary, just go and check out de website we
does have at http://www.trinidiary.com Dat is where we does have all de resa tings dat going orn in de country.

And eef yuh really cyar remember where to look use yuh favourite search page to look for Trinidiary and yuh Tants! So doh feel dat because yuh
ent get no Christmas from me last year dat how I ent want to hear from you, dis email ting does do all sort ah crazy tings sometimes and we
does have to update de newsletter lists to make sure dat is de right list we have all de time.

Lastly in case allyuh was wondering, we does send de newsletter out to over 2,000 of allyuh every week, and de website does get over 5,000
visitors everyday!

Anyway let we put all dat to ress and get on to de tings dat boddering mih today. I really ent know what it is wid dem politricikians. Is why
dem so feel dat dey have to feel dat dey bigger dan all de ress ah we? Ah mean to say we have Patos now trying to huff de President's Grounds
in St. Anns. Is what more dey want to have fuh deyself?

Patos move to Federation Park and de residents on de street now have to put up wid all he entourage everytime he moving in and out de street,
Winer-boy Max still upsetting he neighbours in Maracas because dem outrider does come down de road saying 'clear de way, clear de way' as
if Poison coming tru Woodbrook, and yuh know dat eef Bas had de chance he wouldah do de same ting.

So is any wonder we seeing how ordinary people does behave when dey frustration reach too high? Look at de madness in Point. De road bad fuh years, nobody ent do nutten to fix it, and tings jes reach de las straw. Doh get mih wrong, yuh know dat it had some people who tek advantange of de situation, but de basic problem still dey. People seeing all de dullahs driving up and down in front ah dey house all day and it ent have none to even fix a likkle pothole or buss pipe. So is not ah surprise dat people want to protest. But we did never get teach how to
protest in a civilised way, we long years give up on expecting tings to wuk right, so we does all end up doing de ting in de wrong way.

Dem boy and dem in Point barricade de road and set fire to all kinda rubbish. In a way I suppose dat was de only good ting in de action.
Because instead of trowing de ole tyre and fridge in de river like normal, dey did bun dem on de road and de nightcart did have to pick it
all up. But I was sitting watching Panorama ( oh gorm allyuh go forgive mih ; old habit does die hard), de TV news and I see ah setta badjohn
march up wid tear gas and helmet and ting and nex I hearing is bullet flying over people head like peas!

Is when we go learn we lesson? When yuh shoot a bullet up in de air, it bound to come down later! Dat is how de yute get kill in CIC grounds
years ago, and dat is how more people go dead again. And nobody go know how it happen, is like it was some kinda jumbie gun dat do it. It does
be hard to blame de Police who on de street, because he jes doing what de kakhi pants man say to do. But is who train de khaki pants man? He
reach in de service wid he tree o levels and he jes sit dong and wait he turn to get promote. Dat is what wrong, we never getting better fellas
at de top. Is always jes more fellahs who waiting fuh dey turn.

So is de same wid Patos and de ressa dem, all dey was doing was waiting dey turn. And de turn happen already. I know how allyuh head to young to remember de lass oil-boom, because is like no-one else does remember. Actually is not de boom yuh has to remember, is what happen after dat is de problem. But allyuh go orn, spen all de dullahs, tek a nex drink, wha yuh worrying for, Gord is ah Trini!

So is de same Trini dat gorn to de fete at Licensing and Police had to call out and fire all kinda rubber bullet into de crowd. Is de same
foolishnes. Dey never setup proper crowd control in de fuss place, dey let de ting get out a han, and den want to call Police to deal wid it.
nex ting it go tun into a riot and somebody chile get trample and is who to blame?

Is always too late we realise dat we ent doing ting in a serious way. And den we done lose what we had to start wid. De same lackarray
happening wid dis Soca Broadway business, everyone want to complain about de ting, but is who let dem have de place in de fuss place? It had
any oportunity fuh de residents to say dat dey didn't want dat noise in dey head whole night?

Is when we go realise dat we have to do tings in de right way or not at all. And dat is de big problem. De gazette say dat how people pirating
de soca because it not in de stores yet. But we still ent do nutten to close de video clubs which all renting out pirate DVD and VHS long years
now. So if on de one hand people feel dat de government legalise de piracy in video, why dey go feel dat dey cyar bun two, tree copies of
Bunji, and Machel, and Elephant Bongo Runnings if it cheap, after all is jes ah honest dullah dey earning.

De sad part is dat all dese lessons get learn everywhere else already. And we still bonksing we head trying to implement ah breathalyser law.
Is like we have to make all de same mistakes dat dem 2020 countries make on dey way, otherwise we cyar say dat we really reach.

Ah best go and get dis ting out now before ah doh finish tonight, but ah does have one last word fuh de people dat does want to complain about
dialect every now and den. Doh get me wrong, I does feel dat we has to learn to speak de Queen's English fust. But we cyar ignore dat we
develop we own way ah speaking to one anudder. Look in de Backchat dis week - it have a University Professor dat want to use we likkle
newsletter in she research. Now I ent too sure what all dem big word about morpho-syntax is unless is some new way to squeeze more money out
all ah we in de market, but I real glad to tink dat dis little Trinidad and Tobago have some people looking out fuh we in furrin.
 

BACKCHAT: Issue 05

Well Tants,

Ah up here in de cole but does read de Express every night since dat is my home page on meh home computer (pun intended).

Anyway, wat is all dis confusion wid Wendy? Lef she be nah! I is ah Catholic and let me tell you, ah divorced an raise meh 2 chirren mehself
and dey coulda been a lot worse..ah really proud of dem and meyself.

I remember when I was trying to baptise meh second child (by dat time ah was divorced), de priest did tell me ah should apply for an annulment.
When ah tell him meh husband never raped me when ah had meh daughter, he say never mind dat still get an annulment so that I could marry mey 2nd chile fadder in de church. Who did tell he I wanted to marry anyway?So dey does make yuh lie. Ah tell he ah will apply for it after de
baptism just so ah could get meh son baptise in de church. Needless to say ah never did and ah lef de man too. I was no beauty queen and me and meh chirren did ok. So ah know Wendy go do ok too. Lef she be!! Dat is she own decision to make!

See ya for de 'val. Ah cyar wait.

//Atlanta.

My l'il 2 cents is dat de Catholic church should get dey own house in order before findin' fault with good citizens like Wendy. I cyah believe
de narrow-mindedness of some people and those dat choose to talk outta both sides of dey mout'. Up to now, the C/church has not adequately
addressed how their "leaders" betrayed de trust of young boys for years and years and years.......not even de Vatican!

An' what about kids/people from other religious denominations? Is only Catholics pure and chaste? Is only Catholics who could have dey
sensibilities "rough' up" because Wendy said what she said in de Catholic school?!

Look, Tants....I so vex wit' dis whole setta dotishness an' hypocrisy dat I eh want tuh continue talkin' an' denegrate yuh newsletter by usin'
expletives.

Peace

//Trinidad

Did not agree with your views on the Wendy Fitz-William issue. Her choices are hers no need to have them advertised. Despite how we
evolve as humans, we should never lose sight of the original laws. When we compromise them we run the risk of a breakdown in society.

This is evidenced in the current affairs globally and more so in T&T. Wendy knew very well what to expect when she decided to make that
announcement in a Catholic school, having attended one herself and fully aware of the Church's doctrine.

Yet if those are the "rules" of the playing field she was treading on, she took deliberate moves to violate those rules.

Her forum should have been different, end of story. Whether Catholics want to continue delivering a message not in sync with Wendy's choice should not enter into the discussion.

Societal changes do not dictate how Christ's teachings are to be spread. Those teachings are static.

//Canada

I can believe when i opened the trinidiary website and started reading the crap that was written in something called dialect. That is not how
we trinis speak that was just over doing it. It was just not making sense and it is realled disappointing to know that a foreigner will read
and get the wrong picture of our creative dialect. Please review your dialect written articles.

Refer to cote ce cote la for usefull phrases.

Thank you
concerned citizen

//Trinidad

I am writing in order to get some information about 'Trinidiary', and I hope this is the right place to try and get in contact!

I am a lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at King's College London (Department of English), and my main area of research is in the
field of creole studies. I am also a native Trini and a fan of Trinidiary! At the moment, one of my areas of interest is the representation of creole in the written medium, and I would very much like to use some samples of your 'Tantie talk' as part of my data. I'd like to address specific questions such as (1) what pronunciations get consistently represented in the written medium (and with what orthographic conventions); (2) what features of morpho-syntax (for instance, the construction of the verb phrase) and lexis are also consistently used; (3) what level of interaction there is between creole representation and standard English usage.

I was therefore wondering if I could obtain your permission to use some samples of 'Tantie Talk'?

Many thanks in advance for your help. Looking forward to hearing from you, and keep up the great work!

//London