ABSTRACT
There are two crucial points about Trini sexual banter that were lovingly recreated in all chat rooms. The idea and ideal of a specific genius of Trinidadian sexual linguistics was often explicit, as in an email list where a newbie (to Trinidad, not the Net) expressed appreciation of the use of innuendo in soca lyrics, but made the mistake of putting soca in the same sentence as rap. UK-based Trinis, though far smaller in numbers than those in North America, fit exactly the model in their use of chat as a stage on which to perform Trini-ness. This chapter seeks to focus on ‘being Trini’, and hence on chat; in turning to ‘representing Trinidad’, the focus is rather more on websites. There are generic differences between Internet media The most striking characteristic of post-teenage websites created by Trinidadians, both living in Trinidad and abroad, is the way this expansion of personal identity is subsumed within the sense of being Trinidadian.
