We Kinda Talk: A Grenadian Word Salad

by Anthony DeRiggs

This is a book of expressions, idioms, proverbs and colloquial sayings that were an integral part of our Grenadian speech while I was growing up in Grenada. It is a collection of We Kinda Talk. It can aptly be termed a word-salad .

Those expressions played a valuable role in our educational, cultural and social upbringing and proved to be valuable sources of information. A number of the sayings survived and are still regularly used in everyday Grenadian talk while others have become rare.

The words that sprung from the mouths and pens of people in Grenada came from far and wide. When combined with commonly used local terms, a rich and informative assortment resulted. Some of them even came from popular American movies and songs and were adapted for Grenadian use.

I live in Brooklyn and I often hear words spoken by people from the Caribbean that differ only slightly from those I knew. There is a broader Caribbeaness in the language of the Caribbean diaspora that is worthy of investigation.

I insert definitions, stories and poems in this book to shine a spotlight on the history and culture of Grenada and the Caribbean.

284 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2021