FRANK

E. MANNING

and Nicknames NumberPlates in theBritish WestIndies'

AMONG

THEMORE COLORFUL CUSTOMS of the British West Indies are the wide-

of spreaduse of nicknamesand the universalmemorization automobilenumber Such designationsas "Hot Dog" or "PI7i3," for example, often serve plates. to identifypersonsin lieu of formalnamesor as complements them.Yet nickto namesand numberplatessymbolizemorethan individualidentity;they also symbolize culturalidentity, locating persons in a moral order and class hierarchy. Nicknamesand numberplatesmaybe seen as elementsof folk taxonomicsystems that have a culturalresonance derivedfrom nativevalue categories. In this articleI wish, first,to offer a brief ethnographic accountof nicknames andnumber formsof nomenclaplates,focusingon theirlinguisticroleas alternate ture. Second,I will considerthe functionsservedby nicknames numberplates and within their socialstructural context.Third, I want to examinethe culturalmeaning of nicknamesand numberplates and show how this meaning governs the extent and circumstances their usage.My data are drawnprimarilyfrom Berof muda2and Barbados, are collaborated observations have made in many but I by other BritishCommonwealth in territories the Caribbean circum-Caribbean. and Ethnographyof Nicknames The prevalenceof nicknamesamong West Indian men is truly striking.My have included such personagesas "Froggie,""Cracker," acquaintances "Kingfisher,""PeterRabbit,""Spider,""Forty,""Bird,""Gates,""Workey,""Salt and Pepper," "D A," "Hungry,""Smock,""Smokey,""BrickDust," "Boun"Comicer," "Buggywhip,""Tuppence,""Stagolee,""Fleas," "Peacemaker,"
1 Field research was conducted with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland. I am grateful to my wife, Gail, who retrieved some of the data used in this paper. I also wish to thank Heather Batten for typing the paper. 2 Although Bermuda is geographically outside the area commonly designated as the West Indies (i.e., the Caribbean islands), it has been shaped by political, economic, and cultural influences comparable to those that have prevailed in the British Caribbean. A precedent for including Bermuda under the West Indian heading has been set by Gordon Lewis, The Growth of the Mfodern West Indies (New York and London, 1969), 308-329.

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but cal," "World,"and manyothers.Women are also known by nicknames, to a lesserextentthanmen. In everyday conversation nicknames employedboth vocativelyand referenare that is, in speakingto personsand in speakingabout them. Sometimesa tially, man'snicknameis used to the exclusionof his formalname.On severaloccasions I noted that informantswere unable to recall the formal first names of persons with whom they had fraternized years.They said simplythat they had always for known these personsby nicknames had neverconsidered and using anotherform of address reference. or I learnedan importantobject lessson to this effect when I was looking for a manin Barbados. went to the neighborhood I whereI thoughthe lived and began for him by his legal name.I askedseveralpersonswithoutsuccess,until inquiring I met someonewho told me thatin an adjacentneighborhood werea few families with my informant'ssurname.I went to the second neighborhoodand was directedto a householdwith the surname question.There,while I was describing in the man I sought, a woman'sface suddenlylit up. She sent me backto the first with instructions ask for her nephew,who lived with a family to neighborhood whose surnamewas differentfrom his own, but who was commonlyknown as "Fergie."I did, and was promptlyshownwherehe lived by a personwhom I had previouslyquestioned.His remarkexpressedthe cultural betweenus: "Why gap didn't you say beforethat you were looking for 'Fergie'?" askedin bewilderhe ment. In additionto theirusagein the conductof socialrelations, nicknames find also their way into news stories,radio and TV broadcasts, wedding announcements, court proceedings,and even obituaryand meappreciationacknowledgments, morialnotices.But the outstandingexampleof nicknamepopularity found in is directories.In the Bermudadirectory,for instance,there are listings telephone under"Nappy,""Centipede," "Snooks,""Squeaky," Tired,""Dodie," "Captain "PeeWee," "Chummy," "Chick"Pilot,""Chippy," "Bummy," "Grasshopper," en," "Easter," "Steamer," "Sweets," "Icewater," "Chinky," "Speedy," "Bumpsy," Women'snicknames "Tricks,""Jimbo,"and hundredsof other such sobriquets. listed in the Bermuda directoryinclude "Fern," "Babs," "Tiny," "Mosie," "Molly,"and "Patsy." The semanticsignificance nicknames of varies.Some areprimarily descriptive, to featuresof an individual'spersonality,appearance, experience. or referring Othersarethe namesof folkloricfiguresor local celebrities. thirdtype arebasiA nonsensicaland have no particular arbilexical contentand a more-or-less cally to theirbearer. traryrelationship The conferralof nicknamesis typicallya serendipitous event. Two examples will illustrate.A Bermudian known as "Pauper" given that nameby an adowas lescentfriend who was studyingcomputers hence in the habitof fabricating and " code names;the friend looked at him one day and said, "You're'Pauper.' A
Barbadian known as "Gilgamesh" acquired his nickname in school while the class was reading the Epic of Gilgamesh; a pupil looked up from his book and randomly assigned the names of fictional charactersto boys who caught his attention. As the above examples indicate, nicknames are normally acquired in youth. Thereafter, as my nicknamed informants put it, they tend to "stick" to a person

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for life. Occasionally, nicknameor secondnicknameis gained in adulthood.A a Bermudianknown as "SilverCity" was given that name after he had acquired a rathershockingcrop of gray hair. One day he was drinkingwith some friends in a workmen'sclub. Behind him was a trophycase filled with cups and medals won by the club'schampionship sportsteams.The size and numberof the trophies had earnedthe collectionthe epithet "SilverCity."Observingthe chromatic resemblancebetween the trophies and the gray-haired man, someone exclaimed, "Thatmaybe 'SilverCity'over therein the case,but we've got 'SilverCity'right hereat the bar." Ethnographyof Number Plates Automobilenumberplates are memorized the throughout BritishWest Indies. Women as well as men, childrenas well as adults,non-drivers well as drivers, as havean impressive totalof licensenumbers theirstockof socialknowledge.The in task of learningand recallingthese numbers facilitatedby at least four features is of the registrationsystem-a system, incidentally,that is based on British licensingcustomsand is thereforedifferentfrom that used in Dutch, French,Hisareasof the Caribbean. panic,andAmerican BritishWest Indianlicenseplatesare highly conspicuous. First, They are twice as wide as theirNorth American and areplacedon boththe frontand counterparts rear of the car. Moreover,the characters the plates are not embossedand on as is generallydone elsewherein the Caribbean North America;inand painted, stead, they are large, three-dimensional figuresthat are attachedto a dear backis on ground.The mostpopularcolorcombination white or silvercharacters a dark background, usuallyblackor green. A commonvariant(which is becomingmore widely used becauseof its greatervisibilityat night) consistsof blackcharacters on a reflectorized whiteoryellowbackground. on Second,the numberof characters BritishWest Indian license plates is low are enough not to strain one's memory.Vehicle registrations generallya combinationof five or fewer characters. The first one or two characters letters, are which signify either the class of the vehicle (private car, taxi, or truck) or the are parishwhere the registrantlives. The other characters numbers.Since most personsarealready cognizantof the designations signifiedby the letters,theyhave to memorizeonly the remainder the plate-a maximumof four characters, of and sometimes only one or two. On someof the WindwardIslands,lettersarenot used at all, so thatplatesconsistsimplyof fouror fewernumbers. Third, numberplates are easily relatedto other familiarphenomenathat aid their recall.Religiousfundamentalists, whose ranksare rapidlyswelling throughout the islands, often appropriate scripture passagesas a mnemonicdevice. For Barbadians rememberthe license plate J2415 by associatingit with a example,
favorite text from the Book of Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Similarly, in Bermuda the license plate RP623 is associated with the Epistle to the Romans by Paul, chapter 6, verse 23: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life .. ." A combination of hymn numbers and the pages of the hymnal on which they appear is also used as a memory aid. Finally, West Indian license plates have continuity. Unlike their North Ameri-

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can neighborswhose tax dollarsare spent to buy new plates everyyear or two, West Indianskeep the sameplatesindefinitely. a sense,the platesbelongto the In car and maybe left on the carif it is sold. If a personjunkshis carinsteadof selling it, he can retainthe plates and put them on his next car.This, in fact, is what usually happensin Bermuda,where a person who has sold a car is legally restrictedfrom buying anotherone for a year. In orderto avoid being without a car for this period, most personsuse their carsuntil they are worn out, and then the junk themand transfer platesto a new car.Thus,it is commonfor Bermudians to havehad the samelicenseplate for a lifetimeand to haveusedit on severalcars. Number plates committedto memoryserve a numberof sociallyuseful purposes. Among these is the recognitionof personson the road. It is a canon of etiquettein the West Indies to salute any passingmotoristwith whom one is acquainted.In societies that are small and close-knit,this means that a driveris acknowledgingevery second or third car he passes with a shout, a wave, or a toot of the horn.The recallof numberplatesfacilitatesa socialobligationby proit viding a meansof recognizingcarseasily and at a distance.Unintentionally, is also conduciveto highwaysafety,in that it enablespersonsto exchangegreetings withouttakingtheireyesfromthe road. The recognitionof numberplates is also a meansof gatheringthe kind of inof in formationthat is eventuallydisseminated the gossip networkcharacteristic most personshave the habit When passinga parkinglot, West Indiansocieties.3 of scanning the license plates to determinewho is on or near the premises. Throughthe sametechniqueone can tell who is attendingchurch,spendingtime of woman.Sometimes, course, at the club,or havingan affairwith a neighborhood a In Barbados are identifications mistakenand have embarrassing consequences. he car retiredEnglishman boughta secondhand at a privatesale. A few dayslater askedhim abouthis was greetedon a Bridgetownstreetby a womanwho casually "girlfriend."He said he had no girlfriend,but the womanpersisted.Eventually she told him that the girlfriendwas a neighborof hers, and revealedthe district still whereshe lived. When the Englishman deniedhavinga girlfriendthe woman chided, "Oh, comenow. You wereparkedoutsideher houseall night last week." Number plates are also used to designatedwellings. A resident of the BarbadianvillagewhereI lived paintedhis licensenumberon his frontporch,thereby who puts his identifyinghis home in much the sameway as the North American who wasa self-employed formalnameon a signpostor mailbox.Anotherneighbor to calledattention his businessby makingup an arrow-shaped with tradesman sign his licensenumberon it; he placedthe sign at the end of the street,with the arrow pointedtowardhis house. AlternateForms of Nomenclature I have never witnessedan occasionwhen numberplates were used vocatively. with They are, however,used referentially-a usagein whichtheirrole converges was an fieldwork informant talkingto me in my Bermuda that of nicknames. Early abouta man whom he describedas "Legs."When I said I didn't know "Legs,"
3 For a discussion of the role and meaning of gossip in West Indian societies, see Roger Abrahams, "A Performance-centered Approach to Gossip," Man (N.S.), 5 (1970), 290-301. See also Roger Abrahams and Richard Bauman, "Sense and Nonsense in St. Vincent: Speech Behavior and Decorum in a Caribbean Community," American Anthropologist, 73 (197I), 762-773.

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my informant reminded me that he was "Buck's boy." Since I continued to show a blank expression, my informant responded not by volunteering the man's formal name (which he may not have recalled), but by mentioning the license number of his vehicle. In Barbados nicknames and number plates are used together in two rather different types of public references: dance announcements and death notices. The following dance announcement, taken from a store-window poster, illustrates the standard format used in advertising the dozen or more dances held every weekend under private sponsorship. Ride on, Baje, Comedo yourown thing at a Grand DANCE to be given by Mr. LeroyBoyce betterknownas Rocka,popularbus conductor and Mr. GeorgeBrome ownerof CarL408 at RiverBanksCasino St. Lucy on Saturday night, 29th April, 1972 Musicby Wren BabbsHi-Fi Admission-$i.oo BarSolid as a Rock So Dig It, You Soul Brothers Sisters and On the bottom of the poster, handwritten with a magic marker, was the addendum, "Trans. by L74-." As in the above example, dance announcements invariably contain both nickname and number-plate information. Death notices may contain both, neither, or one of the two types of information. When both are included, the typical format of death notices (which in Barbados are usually given over the radio, not in the newspaper) is as follows: We regretto announce deathof------the also knownas driverof car The notice proceeds to list surviving members of the family and to give details of the funeral arrangements. Dance announcements and death notices are, of course, intended primarily for an audience well acquainted with the subjects. Dances are patronized primarily by relatives, friends, and co-workers of the sponsor(s), while funerals are attended primarily by relatives and close friends of the deceased. Yet in each case formal names are supplemented by other attributes of identity, notably nicknames and

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numberplates. As the danceposterindicates,it is by such alternatedesignations known." thata personmaybe "better Social Structure SymbolicFunction and A glanceat West Indiansocialstructure function readilysuggestsan important servedby nicknames numberplates.Caribbean and societies,especiallythosewith fewer than ioo,ooo inhabitants,are essentiallya collectionof large, extended confamilies that have becomecloselyinterrelated duringcenturiesof marriage, and casualmating. Consequently,two or three dozen surnamesare cubinage, usually sharedby the majorityof an insularpopulation.Within local areasthe of is concentration a few surnames even moreapparent. villages, Neighborhoods, and sometimeswhole parishesmay be populatedalmost entirelyby a few large families. of Sincethe repertory commonfirstnamesis also limited, thereis a high incidence of namesakes.Formal names are nonfunctionalfrom the standpointof individuatingpersons;alternatedesignationsare needed. Nicknamesand numberplatesfill the need by servingas identitysymbolsthatindividuate personsfrom of their kinsmenand namesakes. The importance their commonfunctionis seen most vividly in its absence.Considerthe following newspaperaccountof court in proceedings Bermuda:
The wrong Michael Eugene Smith had been brought up on a charge of riding while disqualified, it was revealed in magistrates court yesterday to the Wor. Austin Ward. The case was adjourned until the right man was found. The defendant present in court was proved to be in prison at the time of the alleged offence on November 19 last year.4

and Suchexamplesindicate why nicknames numberplatesareoften usedin official of as in the discourse socialrelations.Withas recordsand public references well is an ever-present out these alternatenamingterms,mistakenidentity possibility. has The functionalrole of nicknamesas symbolicindividuators currencyin societies.A lucid cross-cultural exampleis found in the Scotsimilarlystructured tish highlands,where Dorian reportsthat upwardof 70 percentof the GaelicIndividual shareonly threesurnames.5 speakingpopulationin smallcommunities and known as "by-names," it is by these that is represented nicknames by identity personsaremost commonlyknown. In one schooltherewere thirteenboysnamed referred with the by-names unfamiliar teachers Willie MacKay.English-speaking to the boys as Willie A, Willie B, Willie C, and so on, all the way to Willie M. In effect,as Dorianobserves,the teachers namingsystemof developeda substitute their own, in responseto the same functionalneed that is servedby the Gaelic by-names. strucThe parallelfunctionof West Indiannumberplatesinvitesa provocative betweenmodernmass societiesand small insularsocieties.To most tural contrast North Americans,the prospectof being known by a number (such as an IBM numberor socialsecuritynumber) evokesan Orwellianshudder.It is seen as the One depersonalization. longs insteadto be identifiedby epitome of bureaucratic what he considersto be the symbolof his uniqueness:his name. To a West In4 Royal Gazette (Hamilton, Bermuda), March io, p973,P. 7. 5 Nancy Dorian, "A SubstituteName System in the Scottish Highlands,"AmericanAnthropologist, 72 (1970), 303-319.

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his dian, numberidentityhas the oppositemeaning. It represents individuality, whereashis namemerelyplaceshim in a largegroupof formalnamesakes. Thus, both Americanand Caribbean societiesdepersonalize, in structurally but different ways. In the former case, depersonalization accomplished bureaucracy; is by in the latter,by extendedkinship.The same type of symbolthat is viewed as a symptomof a sociopsychological problemin one societyworks as a solution to thatproblemin anothersociety. The Heroic Triumvirate Functionalutility is not the only consideration be takeninto accountin exto amining the role of nicknamesand numberplates. As I suggestedat the outset of this article,the two identitysymbolsactnot only to individuate personsbut also to locatethem in a sociocultural order.In a broader sense,however,the meanings of nicknamesand numberplates are at variance.Nicknamesconnotean identity that is heroicwithin a sociallylimitedvalue orientation. Numberplatesrepresent an identitythatis accepted as havinga high status.This discrepthroughout society that ancyin meaninglies behindtwo observations I will now consider: the ten(i) identitiesand of otherpersonsto avoid dencyof some personsto covetnickname identities. them; (2) the generalwillingnessof all personsto acceptnumber-plate Let me begin by looking at conceptsof popularheroismand their relationship to nicknames. In the West Indiestherearetwo basictypesof celebrity heroes:entertainers and In the Caribbean cultural context (as well as the broader Afro-Amerisportsmen. can context), the two figureshave muchin common.They are playersin the dramatisticand agonisticsense. The entertainer a performer-competitor. role is His is both to rendera performance his audienceand to competeagainstotherenfor for tertainers exaltedtitles and valuedprizes.Similarly, sportsman a gamethe is ster-showman. popularitydependsnot only on his athletictalents, but also His on his ability to entertainthe public with flamboyant displaysof personalstyle, on andoff the field. The interrelationbetween dramaticperformance and agonistic encounterin the popularestheticof the West Indies explainsthe culturalheroismof another bothtropisms:the "goodtalker"or "manof words."6 figurewhoseskills combine As I have shown with respectto Bermuda,'and as Kochmanand others have on demonstrated a more generallevel,8oral communication among Afro-Americansis not primarily meansof conveying a contentinformation. Rather,it is a form of symbolicactionthat has two broadaims: (I) to impress,amuse,or persuade one or more listeners;and (2) to contestagainstothersin verbalbattlesof wits. The good talkeris thus the thirdmemberof the dramatistic-agonistic heroictriumvirate.Thoughnot usuallya nationalcelebrity, enjoysconsiderable he prestige
6 The "man of words" has been discussed at length by Roger Abrahams. See especially Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (Chicago, 1970); Positively Black (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970); "Patterns of Performance in the British West Indies," in Afro-American Anthropology: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Norman Whitten and John Szwed (New York, 1970), 163-179. 7 Frank Manning, Black Clubs in Bermuda: Ethnography of a Play World (Ithaca and London, 1973), 61-63. 8 Thomas Kochman, ed., Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America (Urbana, Chicago, London, 1973).

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in local centersof sociability, wherehis latent role is thatof generating and susmore glamfor taining popularappreciation the abilities that are demonstrated and orouslyby entertainers sportsmen. Besides these formal and structural affinities,the three heroicfiguresare also linkedby nicknames. mostfamousbearers nicknames entertainers, The of are espewho ciallycalypsonians, areknownexclusivelyby flamboyant stagenamesthatare mascutitles or epithetsimplying exaggerated generallyeither mock aristocratic line prowess.But athleticcelebritiesand personsesteemedfor verbalfluencyare citedin this also widelyidentifiedby nicknames; all indeed,virtually the nicknames article belong to individualswho are categorizedfrom the native viewpoint as has observation A part of what I have calledthe heroictriumvirate. collaborative are been made by Wilson, who notes that nicknames a sign and an integralpart male value ideal symbolizing of "reputation"-a pan-Caribbean, predominantly in such histrionicand competitiveactivitiesas hustling, gambling, proficiency has Nickname usage in the Caribbean also sports, music, and sexual conquest.9 been seen in close relationto the jocular,agonisticexchangeof verbalinsults,one their fluency of the most familiar scenariosin which good talkersdemonstrate
and wit.1o

It A nickname,then, is a symbolwith importantculturalimplications. identiand verbalvirtuosity. fies a personwith the heroicworld of entertainment, sport, is It follows that the popularity a nickname a roughmeasureof heroicstature, of abilitieshave for it suggeststhe extent to which its bearer'sdramatistic-agonistic that drawnconversational attention.Thus, it is understandable personsare quick to disseminate their nicknames such meansas enteringthem in the telephone by or using themin publicannouncements. directory Adulationfor the triumvirate however,balancedby aversion.The symbols is, that represent popularheroismare scornedby both the religiousand elite sectors of society. Religious opposition is centeredin the rapidlygrowing evangelical which view the settingsof heroicaction-Carnival grounds, Protestant churches, dancehalls, sportsfields, rum shops, clubs,and the like-as places calypsotents, of sin and devilment.To those who are "saved,"the heroicworld is the domain of "backsliders." They completelyavoidit, to the extentof fleeingto the countryfestivalsand sportingrivalside on nationalholidaysgiven over to entertainment ries.'1 is The non-useof nicknames partof the symbolicrepertory throughwhich the from the wider society. In reconverted churchgoer expresseshis separateness I that searchamongreformistand revivalist congregations, discovered mostof my informantshad acquirednicknamesduring their lives, usually in youth or in a periodwhen they had fallen awayfrom church.Presently,though,they tendedto ratherthanpublicizethem, and were rarelyidentifiedby concealtheir nicknames Adventistimplied the rationale within churchcircles.A Seventh-Day nicknames
for eschewing nicknames when he said that, while it was all right for a man named
9 Peter Wilson, "Reputation and Respectability: A Suggestion for Caribbean Ethnology," Man (N.S.), 4 (1969), 74-76. 1o Anthony Lauria, " 'Respeto, 'Relajo' and Inter-Personal Relations in Puerto Rico," Anthropological Quarterly, 37 (1964), 58. 11 For an extended discussion of the opposition between evangelical Protestantism and the activities I have here deemed heroic, see Manning, 60-83.

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Robertto be called Bob, the more frivolousnicknameswere to be viewed unfaof because their"worldly" connotations. vorably from the religiouselect to the socialelite, we noticethat anothertype Turning of aversioncomes into play againstthe symbolic-social systemthat supportsthe heroictriumvirate. Elitist avoidancestems primarilyfrom a sense of culturalsuthe periorityratherthan moral righteousness; dichotomybetweensalvationand sinfulness is thus replacedby one between colonial respectability, emulatedby the middle and upperclasses,and the creoleethos, the folk way of life followed dominantlower classes.Yet the lower classeshave developeda by the statistically characteristic abilityto shift betwencreoleand colonialposes as the situationdemands. The role of nicknamesin making such a shift is seen in the following plea given by one of Bermuda'snotoriouspetty criminalsduring a recentcourt casein whichhe stoodtrialon eight countsof burglary theft. and
They called me names all my life--"Eggs" Smith! I come in court and they call me Kenneth Maxwell Smith. My name is Kenneth James Maxwell Smith. I respect people, but don't get respect. Regardless of the outcome of this here, I will survive, because I am strong. I could kill one of these policemen for the way they treat me, but I will maintain myself. I just want to be straight.... I don't want to own a lot of things like a businessman in a tuxedo. I just want to be straight. In other words-peace."'2

The defendant's abilityto "shuckand jive,"thatis, to projecta favorableimage for the benefitof a middle-classauthority figure,stronglysuggestshis capability as a man of words and hencehis claimto creoleheroism.Yet, it is preciselythis identification he seeks underthe circumstances escape.He does so by disthat to with the creolelife style and therebylikely avowingtwo of the symbolsassociated to stigmatizehim in the eyes of the judge: a nicknameand a fondnessfor flashy clothes.He arguesthat he respectsothersand shouldhimself be deemedrespectable-a treatment does not receiveby being called "Eggs."The effectiveness he of this type of plea in its social contextis suggestedby the outcomeof the case. While the defendantwas convictedon all eight counts, the judge allowed the sentencesto run concurrently told the courtthat he was showing leniencyin and view of the defendant'slackof violence.In a departure from Bermudian judicial the judge also leveled sharpcriticismat the penal systemfor its failconvention, ureto reformoffenders. The association nicknames of with a culturalsystemthat is viewed by one segment of societyas sinful and anotheras sociallydisreputable explainswhy there arelimitationson the desirability a nickname of identity,despitethe heroicstature that suchan identityrepresents. Thosewho aresavedas well as thosewho seekto a respectable are likely to see nicknames forms of identityto be as present image shunnedor concealed.The culturalimplicationof nicknamesalso suggests (alare thoughtherearemanyotherfactorsinvolved) why women'snicknames known and used less widely than those of men. As I have shown for Bermuda,13and as
Wilson has observed for the Caribbean as a whole,'4 a greater percentage of women than men not only adhere to the tenets of the church but also strive to maintain an image of social respectability.
12 Royal Gazette (Hamilton, Bermuda), October 13, 1973, p. 3. 13 Manning, 163. 14 Wilson, 70-84.

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nor A number-plate identity,on the otherhand,has neitherheroicconnotation moral-cultural It stigmatization. indicatesonly the obvious-that its beareris the owner of an automobile.The automobileis, moreover,an importantstatussymbol. In most of the West Indies,wages and living conditionsareat a level where success a carsareat a considerable A premium. caris, therefore, symbolof material and economicaccomplishment-goalsthataresoughtby heroesandsaints,creoles or and colonials,alike. To an entertainer, sportsman, good talker,a car signifies financialgain, one of the basic indicationsof recognitionand heroic stature.A car is equallyvalued, however,by the religiouselect and the social elite. To the former,it is a "blessingfrom the Lord";to the latter,it is an important of the part middle-andupper-class material that standing.*5 repertory validates A number-plate identityis thus positivelymeaningfulacrossthe religiousand of social segmentation society,without,per se, locatingits ownerin any segment. who place it can be used by personsas diverseas dancepromoters Accordingly, it who remember throughassociait on advertising and pious churchgoers posters tion with scriptureverses. Indeed, I will never forget an elderly Pentecostal abouther son by reconversation who habituallyintroduced womanin Barbados she wouldsay, "Youknowmy son-SI70oto his number ferring plate;typically my son, Stuart." Nicknamesand numberplates are examplesof what Geertzhas termed"symbolic ordersof persondefinition."'6 personsand to sugThey serveto individuate the To furtheraboutthem that is culturally significant. appreciate gest something that the to understand circumstances govern native responseto these symbolsand as their usage, we must be attentiveto hermeneutic well as functionalconsiderations. MemorialUniversity Newfoundland of St. John's,Newfoundland

15 See, for example, M. G. Smith, "The Plural Framework of Jamaican Society," British Journal of Sociology, 12 (I96i), 260.

16 Clifford Geertz,Person, Time, and

Conductin Bali: An Essay in CulturalAnalysis (New

Haven, 1966), 13.