Triniglish|Trinididioms Spoken and Explained #8
If you understand the meaning of "ah go lick yuh down"
School days, or for some it was school daze, were happy days. Indeed they were and for those of us who attended elementary school, during our formative years in Trinidad, understood only too well that school trouble was a given. Every little squabble would end up with someone 'getting vex' and blurting out, "Ah go lick yuh down".
Well children were licking down just about everything in the early years. They were 'licking down mangoes', licking down some serious jorts or listening to the bard known as Baron singing about how "Shorty lick she" (Song is Severe Lickin'). Oops, well Shorty did not 'lick down' anyone but the thought of the song felt right to include in the post and at the end you can listen to the song - now that was put into the post just for the hell of it.
Times were different in the early formative years and all disagreements ended with a fight after school. There was no way to back out of it - yuh had to fight or be considered a coward. However there were times when "ah go lick yuh down" was used to solve the dilemma. After school a buss head could be the result from an ace hand 'pelting ah stone' to lick yuh down. Then again an after school fight could literally result in a lick down or knock out.
"Ah go lick yuh down" was usually uttered during a moment of anger and was meant to warn the other person to be aware that there was an issue that needed to be dealt with. Most of the times nothing came out of it but on many occasions it did result in a fight to settle childhood squabbles.
In the world that we live in today, and especially in Trinidad and Tobago many people, many children would prefer to "get lick down" as it was done in the early days of the islands development than to get involved the scenario that exists today. The end result of squabbles today end up with dire results. We need a change of attitude and even though "ah go lick yuh down" sounds barbaric I am sure that most of you who knows that "yuh is ah Trini if yuh know what to lick down someone means" then surely you would prefer this circumstance to the present status quo.
Hopefully now you have a better understanding of "ah go lick yuh down"; gosh I hope I did not complicate the discourse. I wish I had a copy of Baron's Severe Lickin' to add to the post. If you do send it to ananda2456@gmail.com for posting.