Triniglish|Trinididioms spoken and explained! #49
Yuh is ah Trini|"Like trowin' watah on duck back!"
"Like trowin (throwing) watah (water) on duck back!" This is a situation that people find themselves in everyday. Sometimes when I think about it all I can do is choops (steups, cheups) and in so doing I know it is just suck air between my teeth in vain. Your know the saying, 'people are people' and they will remain stuck in their old ways until they are struck on their heads to wake them up - then again that, most of the time, does not work. So what is left? In such a situation a typical Trinidadian will say, "We like it so".
As a child, I am sure you were fascinated to see how the water danced off the feathers of the ducks and chickens in the yard. "Is the oil causing dat" would be the typical response. "Yes, the ducks and chickens have an oil tank on dey bottom". Well not really, but children surely have a funny way of putting things in context. The outcome was the important thing and when one throws water on the duck it simply runs off. So to say a situation or to get a person to change their ways or better yet their modus operandi could simply be a waste of good intentions and genuine effort. The frustration that follows results in the exclamation that getting the person or situation to change is "Like trowing watah on duck back". In other words you are just 'wasting your time and good effort to effect change in the person or situation'.
I know that you have found yourself in this situation many times before with a friend or even family members. One of my favorite is seen when elections roll around. "Ah vex with Manning but ah voting PNM"; "Bas is ah good man ah voting UNC"; "Ah PNM till ah die" and my favorite of them all is "We like it so". Each of these, if you think about it, results from a severe dose of 'political ignorance' that has been passed on from parents to children and in most cases can be traced back to race issues and a lack of national pride or a misunderstanding of what it really means to be a patriot of Trinidad and Tobago. To effect constructive change in those situations is 'like pulling hair from yuh nose' that will only result in tears and frustration.
I simply wanted to have a little fun and was not choosing sides politically when I used the election examples. Ignorance and chupidness (stupidity,stupidness) is well grounded on both sides of the divide. It is a frustration endeavor to effect change in attitude and thought and in most cases "is like spinning top in mud". Better put it is "Like trowing watah on duck back".