Words

Ever had days of the lost for words feeling , you can taste the it’s at the tip of the tongue but not for the love of you it will roll off and come out the mouth and help express that thought. How about the spelling of an unfamiliar word, or one in the native language used daily but never thought you will actually have to spell. Then there are those fancy words of politicians you hear at campaigns, and you the simple spoken have to comprehend there meaning.
Nevertheless, if perchance your computer did not have spell check you will be in a mess of wrongly spelt words. However, other than the computer spell check which is roughly always-in United States English no bad feelings but some announce at the limited suggestions. To be sure of words I keep a dictionary handy since in Trinidad and Tobago England’s English is used when it comes to spelling. The native twang of this twin island is music to the ears of both locals and foreigners alike.
Here the schools teachers emphasize the importance of an expanded vocabulary. Insisting the best way to get one is through extended reading. No just restricted to schoolwork, because the indulgence of your imagination is a must if you are to master words. Local folk tales of Papa Bois and Anancy the spider, but Anancy played lots of tricks on animals of the jungle, and stole their food.
These and other local tales help expand the vocabulary which in turn also invigorates reading. Then there are local authors like V.S Naipaul, Earl Lovelace and the man of talk Paul keen-Douglas he tells a story like no other. When you get a chance go to the talk tent and listen to him tell about Tante Merle in d Oval watching cricket you’ll laugh fuh so.
But on the other hand if you lived in a family where there was a storyteller then your evenings were surely fun. That person who talked of family tales and other happenings of the old days like ….then you were lucky.  Listening to a story being told is the next best thing to reading from a favourite storybook.
Did you ever hear about the soucouyant who use to take off she skin and go feed on human blood? Unfortunately, one day when she returned home to put on d skin someone had put pepper on it unknown to her. So she takes d skin to put on her body but it burnt her so she start asking skin, skin, you nah know me? Those are some of the stories that was told to me as a child which started the exploration of words, books. These readings took me to another world where life was interesting, beautiful, and full of things that was not in this present world I lived in as a child.

                                                              Lisa