Caribbean English

Newspaper articles on Saint Martin sometimes sport interesting linguistic turns of phrase. For instance, the Daily Herald recently reported on a man who claimed to be have been maltreated by the police. The newspaper talked about 'unfair abuse' - like as if there is such a thing as 'fair abuse'. In an article on illegal immigrants who gave a false name to the police, the paper deemed it necessary to explain such a thing is against the law. Duh...

More words than necessary are used in the written English. Spoken English is very efficient, however. What does the verb 'to be' add? Not much in most instances. So drop it! Prepositions very often prove obsolete too, so why use them? What's left is an efficient bare bone style that couldn't do with one word less: I going town. You sick? The only frivolity they allow themselves is the addition of the word man.

Yeah, man!