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Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
Lmao @Poli Dholl
abee Chief is wan sophisticated chap, he does seh Dholl haha

 

This new word "dholl" always bothered me too. I never quite understood it because "dhall" seems more phonetically sound.

 

Are these people trying to distinguish their "dholl" from ordinary people's "dhall"?

 

I sometimes just laugh of the inside when some Georgetown coolies (who I specifically considered inferiors to begin with) would comment on how "Berbician curries are too spicy" or masala laden for their delicate Georgetown constitutions. My politeness and patronizing nature in the face of stupid people prevented me from saying what I was really thinking.

FM
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
lissen chap we GT coolies are mostly upper class Punjabis whereas ayuh bubishans are Bihari types yuh bein de lone exception
Ayuh does use cheaper meats tripe foot tail etc hence de heavier doses of masala tuh mek de meal mo palatable

 

LMAO

 

Actually I don't really think tripe, foot, and tail are poor people food at least not anymore)

 

I think I recently paid like $6 per pound on Liberty Ave for cow face a year ago

FM

GT coolies always think they're impressin abbe lowly Bubishans when they begin a sentence with "Ah doan use __________________"

 

In my head, I'm thinkin "oh sk**t here we go. I have to endure another conversation with dis coolie who lived in that center of world civilization Georgetown" and my thoughts would turn to "I'd be more impressed if began that sentence with "I don't" as opposed "Ah doan...."

FM
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
how bout dem auntyman who barn a Lusignan for example and does tell people dem from GT

 

Oh Lord, I can't stand people who fake Georgetown orgins bai. Jesus Christ!

 

If you go by what you hear in conversation, almost all Guyanese exiles in NA were born in Georgetown.

 

Which is why I'm always at pains to mention that I'm not from Georgetown whenever someone asks me where I'm from. If that person has no clue about Berbice or even Guyana I always say "from the countryside in Guyana, the country where Jim Jones killed all those people"

 

Also, I don't take it as a compliment when fellow Guyanese think I'm from Georgetown because of some personal trait or habit or even that I speak English somewhat decently. I remind them that the Corentyne is not devoid of intelligence and culture. At least not in the recent past.

FM
Originally Posted by Shaitaan:
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
Lmao @Poli Dholl
abee Chief is wan sophisticated chap, he does seh Dholl haha

 

This new word "dholl" always bothered me too. I never quite understood it because "dhall" seems more phonetically sound.

 

.

There is a linguistic term called "hypo correction". When a speaker of a basilect (deep creolese) or a mesolect (mid level creolese) attempts to speak the acrolect (standard "educated" English) they make changes to appear to be more educated.  

 

Given that the word "wall", pronounced "wawl"  becomes "waaal" in creolese, it ought to be no surprise that "sophisticated" (mesolect speakers trying to be proper) will say "Dhol".

 

We still live in a post colonial world where the folk traditions of our ancestors are to be admired from a distance, but not to be adopted on a day to day basis.  To do so will be "low class".

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by Shaitaan:
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
Lmao @Poli Dholl
abee Chief is wan sophisticated chap, he does seh Dholl haha

 

This new word "dholl" always bothered me too. I never quite understood it because "dhall" seems more phonetically sound.

 

.

There is a linguistic term called "hypo correction". When a speaker of a basilect (deep creolese) or a mesolect (mid level creolese) attempts to speak the acrolect (standard "educated" English) they make changes to appear to be more educated.  

 

Given that the word "wall", pronounced "wawl"  becomes "waaal" in creolese, it ought to be no surprise that "sophisticated" (mesolect speakers trying to be proper) will say "Dhol".

 

We still live in a post colonial world where the folk traditions of our ancestors are to be admired from a distance, but not to be adopted on a day to day basis.  To do so will be "low class".

 

I agree. Thank you for the theoretical explanation of what I instinctively knew to be the case.

 

I find that those who are trying to "fit in" to a new setting perceived as "sophisticated" in comparison to their actual origins have an incredibly hard time because they simply haven't mastered the new more "sophisticated" world they wish to join.

 

If you feel the need to spell dhall as "dholl", then I immediately think there's something deeply wrong with you. Either your grasp of English is tenuous and you're trying to be uber careful or you grasp English well and have just have some psychological inferiority issue at play or both. "Dholl" is always a red flag. Also "I'm from Georgetown" when the person is not or only lived there for a short period of time or is trying to convey that they are not like the rest of us presumably low class chammars who inhabit the provinces.

 

I thank God I'm from a family (both sides) who were always comfortable in their skin and taught me to be so as well. That Indian, Corentyne, and for those of us who were dark in the family like me our dark skin.

 

I've found that authenticity is the most valued trait by those who are truly "upper crusty" and inhabit any country's 0.1%.

 

I recall an interesting dinner at a small cozy restaurant in the City a few years ago. There was like six of us, two high ranking UN NGO chairs who were Americans (from the South), a West African Cabinet Minister, same country's UN Ambassador, and this extremely super rich and super influential blue blooded Manhattan socialite. It was so comical how scraping the rest of the table was towards me after the grand dame paid me some attention and ate some kidneys from my plate. We apparently shared a love of organ meats cooked in French dishes. I'm almost certain that the Commonwealth Minister and Ambassador present probably would have been mortified to eat kidneys in a fine restaurant in front of anyone much less the most important white socialite at the UN who makes or breaks new Ambassadors. I only kind of understood the psychology at play a few days later. I can assure you that the vast majority of Guyanese (of all stripes) would have gone out of their way to "impress" in such company.

FM
Originally Posted by caribny:
Originally Posted by Shaitaan:

 Really important people seem to like a personal touch.

This is often true, though they don't like crude behavior.  What they like is authenticity.

 

That's absolutely true. That in a nutshell explains how to be in the modern world. Which is why I always try to be who I am. I'm some admixture of a whole lot of stuff. As Bender Rodriguez from Futurama would say "It's what makes me me"

 

I don't think many people (especially Guyanese from the lower orders) understand that the key to genuine acceptance especially the higher your counterpart is on the social class scale is authenticity.

FM

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