THE EDITOR: It is so unacceptably shameful that at the renaming of a street in honour of Ras Shorty I that the San Fernando City Corporation misspelt Shorty as Shortie. I thought things like this were checked before they went out in the public.
Educators will also agree that we never get punctuation and pronunciation right as well. Simple things like "eh-heh" has now replaced "yes, ma'am." I have seen many a Ministry of Works sign with terribly misspelt words in the directions and village names, especially those of East Indian origin. I challenge readers to spell "poutigal and pommecythere" instead of "portugal"...and the list goes on.
However, I, like many citizens, continue to listen - despite being chased out of the tents by poisonous and denigrating calypsoes - to not just Om Shanti Om, as the forerunner of fusion soca, but to the incredible soca hits of the late Ras Shorty I, like Money Ain't No Problem and Change, which still put local artistes to shame for the brass and soul imbued in them.
As a former educator, counsellor and feminist who is trained in music, I can tell you when a soca hit will be immortalised and Ras Shorty I's music meets the criteria.
So the San Fernando City Corporation should call the nearest primary school and ask the 'chirren' (deliberately misspelt) how to spell 'Shortie.' Mercifully, the children will not type in "Shortie" on YouTube/Google as they do for everything these days, and when 50 Cent comes up, they too say "Shawty."
LINDA CAPILDEO
St James
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