None of the interviewees received any education beyond high school, so their anecdotes largely revolve around the workplace and their personal lives. Conversely, the surveyees are able to discuss their experiences with writing and speaking in various stages of academia.

Although their individual responses vary —tthe details of which will be explored on the next page—the participants are united in one respect: none of them use their variety, not even a hint of it, with non-speakers. While one might assume that this is to facilitate communication, the participants explain that the reasoning is more along the lines of being looked down upon for speaking it. They are not quite meeting the other person where they are linguistically; rather, they are averting any potential judgment by not using their native language. When interacting with strangers of a visibly different race, they immediately opt for standardized English, but if the other party turns out to be West Indian, they feel comfortable using their dialect. One respondent described this as "a breath of relief ... like turning on a switch, and you can't stop me talking once I start."

However, participants still exercise caution until the individual's ethnic background is confirmed, typically by a discernible accent or their initial use of English creole. This is another key point: Caribbean lects vary by country and culture but are fundamentally similar enough to be understood by all Caribbeans. For this reason, a Jamaican patois speaker can easily converse with an unfamiliar Bajan speaker. Keep this in mind as I analyze and discuss my primary research findings in the next section.