Where 'Lime', The Concept came from

20, Mar 2000
Eriksen in his piece insists that the "etymology of the word, liming, is obscure." We have had for centuries to think, conceptualise and communicate in two languages.

One Thomas Hylland Eriksen visited T&T and wrote a 17-page essay titled, "Liming in Trinidad The Art of Doing Nothing". We picked it up off the net and were astonished by the fact that one could so closely examine phenomena, come so close to grasping its power as socialised activity and yet be so wrong in one's interpretation. It serves however to provide us with the opportunity to deal with a topic that has been of particular interest to us for quite some time.

Eriksen in his piece insists that the "etymology of the word, liming, is obscure" and that "whereas idling and inactivity are frequently seen unequivocally as shameful and slightly immoral kinds of social situations, liming is in Trinidad acknowledged as a form of performing art (the emphasis is ours); it is a kind of activity one wouldn't hesitate to indulge in proudly. In liming contexts, verbal improvisation, ingenuity and straightforward aimlessness are highly regarded..."

We maintain that the word "lime" had to have been derived originally from the French verb "limer", which means "to polish", "to shine", "to glitter". That in our view is the only possible etymological connection.

In 1969 while sojourned in Montreal, Canada, due to certain circumstances, we began an examination of the favourite pastimes of the people in T&T as a basis for psychological and sociological assessment, the assumption being that people in societies bare themselves and establish their continuity and uniqueness through the favourite pastimes in which they engage whether formally or informally.

Identifying "liming" as T&T's most favoured pastime, we said in that 1969 document that "the lime is a street corner institution, a micro-society existing within a macro-society. It consists of a group of individuals who live their lives in very close association, usually hanging out at a street corner, a bar or anywhere for that matter... To each individual the lime is important for his life is fashioned by it... In our country, the lime has become deep-rooted... to such an extent that now everyone regardless of 'class' participates in a lime, usually with people of the same district... In T&T class lines are not rigid... everyone here participates in more or less the same things. What distinguishes 'class' is how much and how often one participates... Self-relaxation, a letting loose of oneself is the foundation of the lime, a natural expression of self and culture away from whatever one is forced to learn..." (The Genius of Our Own by B Rennie Montreal 1969 unpublished mimeograph.)

In regard to the original root or derivation of the "lime" concept, we said in that document that "the word, "lime", itself must have been derived from the French verb "limer", meaning "to polish", "to shine". What is the connection? One may ask.

The document sought to clarify this said question when it stated that "the French patois speakers used 'limez' to describe a well-dressed, 'polished' person, in other words someone who glittered... It is also well known that the young men who hang around at the street corner under the street lights are usually the best dressed, for one main purpose was to attract women... It is also a fact that each member of the social gathering usually has something that he can do superbly, in other words, something in which he 'glitters' or stands out when performing either music, sports, speaking, dressing, etc, thus one can safely say that the 'lime', the noun, is a congregation of those who glitter 'limez', the verb..."

That kind of corruption of words and concepts is typical of T&T, particularly given the peculiar history of being French for centuries at the level of grassroots existence though ruled formally by a British colonial administration. We have had for centuries to think, conceptualise and communicate in two languages, both of which were relatively new to us.

The experts in this field of study have provided us with numerous examples of this duplicity. We say "the rain is falling" and "it is making hot" because of our French usage of English vocabulary.

But the most astonishing example of the corruption of the two languages was pointed out to us by one of our brothers who happened to attend a French movie in Canada and one of movie characters walked into a particular scene and asked, "Ou est le general? (where is the general?) and this brother of ours is convinced that he heard "Whey le general?"

It is certainly a revelation! When we say in our dialect "whey yuh going", that "whey" is a corruption of the French "Ou est". It says a lot about our peculiar history. "Lime" in our view is likewise a corruption of the French "limez".

(To be continued)

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