“Our Dialect”

I was walking in the hot, hot, hot sun yesterday, and I am sure that I must have been looking the way I was feeling… drained. A man was sitting on a stoop. As I walked by, he started smiling and talking. I didn’t say anything, but I kept on walking and he kept on talking. When I got to the next block from his, I realized that I only understood 3 words from what he said, gyal/girl, fifty cents and water. I wondered if he wanted fifty cents to buy himself a bottle of water or if he wanted to buy me one. Not every one understands the Jamaican dialect. I know if I get down in my Trinbago dialect, many won't understand.