Lifespan of a Chennette

Tell me honestly. What would you think if someone asked you that out of the blue?

Well…perhaps not out of the blue…but at a fast food restaurant, after you’ve placed your order.

When I first came to Guyana, I was staying at a hotel-type place until I found a place to live. I didn’t fancy cooking in the little kitchenette, so I did indulge in some fried chicken and whatnot. Popeye’s was my grease of choice – the one Popeye’s in Guyana is halal and I was briefly enticed by their seasoned fries and spicy chicken strips. But I digress. The first time I gave my order, I was waiting to be told the total, but instead I was asked:

“Yuh using?”

I think I stared. I know I didn’t respond right away. She couldn’t be asking me if I was on drugs right? But that was all I could think of. She repeated the question to my blank face. And so I started to think of what else the question could mean. Was she asking me if I wanted to use a fork with my meal? Maybe she wanted to know if I planned on using my credit card and this was an idiomatic Guyanese shorthand that I should learn. My possibly lengthy internal discussions were cut short when she asked again:

“Yuh using or is take away?”

Ahhhh. I still had no idea what the question meant, but at least I was given an option I recognised. I quickly chose “take away” and left, wondering if my hearing was so bad that I kept hearing “Dine In” or “Eat In” as “Using“.

I soon found out that Guyanese “use” food. Now, I know Trinis probably have equally weird expressions that are incomprehensible to foreigners, but I still haven’t quite come to terms with this expression. To me using implies some kind of continuity of action or to use for a purpose. How can eating food be using? What are you using it for?? I suppose you do use food for nutrition when you eat it…  Does it refer to the temporary nature of eating, which leads me to wonder why would people make such a subtle reference to the…uhm…digestive and excretion process…but I’m overthinking this. It’s not like that other Guyanese expression, “drinking tablets” which makes eminent logical sense, when most people take tablets with a drink.

I am just immensely curious as to how this term arose. I had stopped thinking about it, but while my family was visiting Guyana last week, my brother and sister-in-law heard the term and had the same reaction – “what did they say? what does that mean?” – and I was reminded how you can get used to a foreign language after 5 years:)