Are you about to speak vernacular in public? Use discretion
What you need to know:
Culture is great, but not all culture should be maintained or regarded as useful. FGM can definitely go away, as can the knocking out of a female’s six lower teeth upon puberty.
If you are not going to translate, don’t bother to ‘vernaculate’.
It speaks to a certain lack of culture, in fact, to launch into a language which you know for a fact the people around you don’t understand, especially at a public forum.
I love my tribe.
I love my language, I love the way my people are. I love the way we look, the way we act, the deeply descriptive expressions that come from speaking vernacular – I love it all.
Am I tribalistic? Maybe. I think everyone is, a little bit, if tribalistic means loving your tribe.
Being tribalistic does not, however, include hating everyone else.
The Free Online Dictionary defines tribalism as ‘the organization, culture, or beliefs of a tribe’ and ‘a strong feeling of identity with and loyalty to one's tribe or group’.
There’s nothing there about killing, or hatred, or negativity.
And culture is great, but not all culture should be maintained or regarded as useful.
FGM can definitely go away, as can the knocking out of a female’s six lower teeth upon puberty.
Language can stay. Few enough speak their mother tongue, especially in urban centres.
I think it is a thing of pride to be able to converse in more than two languages.
It’s a good thing, I think, when you can speak vernacular, but it turns negative when you insist on speaking it everywhere.
The other day, I was at a networking lunch. I was sitting with two other women who I happened to be acquainted with. I was engaging in admittedly antisocial behaviour, texting on my phone.
The women sitting next to me started speaking in vernacular as soon as I looked down.
When I looked up, they continued in English.
Don’t get me wrong here; the point is not that I think they were talking about me, or that I was at all interested in their conversation.
Love of your culture aside, it’s downright rude, point blank period.
It speaks to a certain lack of culture, in fact, to launch into a language which you know for a fact the people around you don’t understand, especially at a public forum.
Not only does it indicate that you do not care to engage (even more so than my rude texting), but it also shows that you are interested in drawing more battle lines, you against us.
An ‘us versus them’ mentality is one of the things that get our country into problems like post-election violence.
If you are not going to translate, don’t bother to ‘vernaculate’.
It shows that you are not interested in communication. Why then are you there? This isn’t your sitting room at home, for Pete’s sake.
It is on the same level as you going to a remote island somewhere where the greeting is a sharp slap.
You won’t understand it until it is explained to you. But before that, of course you will find the people rude and extremely uncivilized, no?
That’s what it is – uncivilized.
If you didn’t know, now you know. There are many degrees of rudeness or discourtesy, and this one is pretty big, in my humble opinion.
Or what do you expect me to do, walk around with a translator chip?
Incomprehensible.
