It's time to break out a new segment that I'm calling "So That's a Thing."
I just finished The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey. The characters are well developed, the plot is interesting, and the sense of place (it's set in Trinidad and Tobago) is incredibly vivid. I loved it.
There's just one thing. Please read the following selection:
Sparrow leant forward. 'Do you know how many women claim dey have a chile from me?'
George shook his head.
'Plenty.'
'One in every village?'
'At least.'
'See, you're a Father of the Nation. You and Eric Williams.'
Sparrow steupsed. 'Ohhh, gorsh. Pressure, man....'
I'm sorry, steupsed? Steupsed? That's so not a thing.
After some research on what my mom calls "Professor Google," I have learned that "to steupse" is a Trinidadian verb used to describe the sound of someone sucking their teeth. So apparently that is a thing. Now, I'm not one to go in pursuit of facts to disprove, but when I did an image search of "steupse" I got, among other results, a dead wallaby-looking thing and a plate of Moroccan couscous. Just sayin'.
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