To Lime or Go Liming in Trinidad

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello. Hi, this is Jolene Declan. I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.

Hi, Jolene. Welcome to the show.

What can we do for you?

Well, I have this word that we use in Trinidad a lot, and everybody’s always trying to discuss where it started from. I’m from Trinidad originally, and we were once part of the British Commonwealth, so we’re not sure if it derives from the British language or it’s just a Trinidad slang. And the word is liming.

So basically when you pick up a bunch of friends or you go over to somebody’s house, we’re going to go liming, which means to hang out. But where did it come from? Does it come from liming or is it a turn that word? That’s what we’re trying to find out.

Liming as in a verb, huh? We’re going liming? As in a verb.

Yes, as in a verb. Let’s spell that. L-I-M-I-N-G. Liming.

That’s correct. Liming. So the verb would be L-I-M-E, like the fruit.

Yeah, we’re going to go lime. So when we get together, we’re liming. And so informal socializing, hanging out, chatting, maybe going to a party, that sort of thing?

Correct, yes, that’s right. And so you’re originally from Trinidad. You’ve been in the United States for a while. Then nobody around you probably uses this.

Nobody uses that. But if I pick up the phone, I talk to another friend from Trinidad who lives in Boston, New York, wherever, and we say, so are you going liming tonight? But right away, they know exactly what I mean.

Yeah, I can imagine. So there’s two prevailing theories. And the first one is that it does come from Limey, L-I-M-E-Y, which is a derogatory term for a British person, except it kind of flipped. The Dictionary of Caribbean Usage suggests that it came about during World War II as a derogatory term for white American soldiers who were at the naval base in Trinidad who hung around the bawdy houses, you know, were the ladies of the…

Right. And that’s one theory. So it was kind of the American naval men who were up to no good, hanging around. And they were called Limeys, even though they weren’t British. That theory, I would grade that theory probably a C or a D. Not very good.

Now, there’s another dictionary that I have, which I much prefer. It’s a better dictionary. It has a lot more evidence. And it’s called the Dictionary of the English, Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. It has a ton of information. It’s got a lot of citations. It dates this term back to the 1940s. And a theory that it shares has a lot of evidence. It says if you weren’t invited to a party and you wouldn’t go because it would be rude, you were said to suck limes. Like you basically say, go suck limes. You’re not invited to the party, right? And so if you didn’t go and you were sucking limes, you would go suck limes together. It means you were liming. And maybe you would go bus a lime or you would go ride a bus and suck a lime. And so you were kind of liming together, meaning you were sucking limes together. And that supposedly is their idea for the origin of the expression. They also express some doubt about that. But it sounds to me, it’s got that ring of like simplicity that I really like. And also I love it when a dictionary expresses doubt about their own origins that they’re putting forth because it means that they’re not trying to pull one over on me.

Right, right. Now, you know, that can make a lot of sense, but it’s such a social thing. I don’t see, I mean, you know, Trinidad’s a very cosmopolitan, diverse background and everything. And we’re such social beings in Trinidad. So even if you’re a foreigner, stranger, wherever, and you come and somebody meets you, and they might meet you on the plane. And you say, oh, well, what are you doing in Trinidad? Oh, well, you know, I came for business and all that. Says, well, listen, we’re having a lime at our house tonight. You want to come over? So it’s such a social inviting type of phrase.

Absolutely. It kind of seems like the opposite. Like if you suck limes, yeah, you didn’t get invited and all that. But it means that we want you to be part of our social group, even if we don’t even know you.

Jolene, let me agree with you. All the Trinidadians I’ve ever met have been like that. I agree with you completely.

I do too. But let me propose a theory and that lime has changed. When we look at the early uses of this in this dictionary where they have it in print from newspapers and books and stuff from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, it didn’t mean that exactly and originally. Liming was hanging out on the streets doing nothing. It was kind of like –

That sounds very true. It was bumming around. It was like smoking cigarettes. It was teasing the girls. It was harassing passersby. It was goofing off. It wasn’t going to parties. It wasn’t any kind of sophisticated party or anything like that.

No, you go liming on the block. Yeah, exactly. You go liming on the block and you go stand up there and smoke cigarettes and harass people.

And harass people? So maybe liming only was the kind of liming where you were an outsider in the beginning and it wasn’t the liming where you go to somebody’s house and put on your best clothes and bring a little food and a little drink and have a good time and dance together.

Yeah, that connects. And plus, you know, 40s and 50s and 60s was a totally different time. It may not have been, you know, as social until it got maybe in the early 60s.

Is it correct to say you’re liming with us right now?

I am liming with you right now.

All right. Thank you so much for sharing. I’m just hanging out. I’m not harassing anybody, but I am liming.

Yeah, we’re liming together. And I want to thank you for looking back for the words and giving me. And so it’s given me a whole new perspective, too. And I enjoy your show tremendously.

Thank you so very much for calling us. We really appreciate it.

Okay. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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