…and reporting
All Guyana’s all agog over the video of a lawyer “cussing out” a traffic cop who stopped his car and demanded he produce his driving licence. Now, every Guyanese who’s driven a vehicle on our roads would’ve experienced this arbitrary “stop and demand” by traffic Police. And felt their bile (and rage) boil up in their throats as they realise it’s nothing more than a shakedown for a “raise”. That they could be hauled to the Police station and forced to endure sitting for hours on the station bench like a common criminal forces most drivers to “pay up” and “move on”.
Even though there have been numerous articles, letters, debates over the airwaves on the subject – all of which confirmed that you aren’t supposed to be stopped unless the cop had “reasonable cause” to so do — the practice continues unabatedly. It has to be that the Police, in general, don’t see the need for curbing the practice. Some have asserted that the loot is shared with supervising officers.
Well, for all those long suffering and abused motorists – including your humble Eyewitness — lawyer Crawford just struck a blow for their emancipation from this Police tyranny! With great aplomb, Crawford demonstrated the verbal facility lawyers should develop after five years of legal training. And as his colleagues at the bar should’ve noted, it isn’t just about using big words: Crawford showed the subtlety that just intonation could impart to words by riffing on the single “F” word and its various tenses. Mostly, he used the form of the present participle “F***ing.
Now, your Eyewitness isn’t going to get into the debate as to the “propriety” of using such “cuss” words. Some felt that, as a lawyer, he shouldn’t have descended “into the gutter”. But why should this be so? Anthropologists show that all cultures have cuss words – and gestures like sticking up the middle finger! So it must be a human response to certain social circumstances, no? Well, the psychologists tell us that cuss words are typically “transgressive” and offensive, but allow us to vent strong emotions about something that affects us. The words are usually about taboo subjects in the public realm – sex, bodily waste and religion.
But your Eyewitness was intrigued by the representation of the cuss word in the Guyanese dailies. Unlike the London Times, for instance, which would use the word fully spelt out when quoting someone – like Crawford – the local newspapers used the first letter of the word, followed by asterisks – eg F***! The question your Eyewitness has is: why is this, the asterisked version, considered less offensive? And studies have shown that it is so with most people.
So, if Crawford had yelled, “F-asterisk you!” to the cop, would it be okay?
But it wouldn’t have been as cathartic for him, would it?
…and Ethnophaulism
Well…well…well! Your Eyewitness learnt a new word today, and in of all places, the Chronic. A member of the ERC revealed that after three years in the making, their newly constituted body — meant to diffuse the racial hostilities that are always on the verge of boiling over — will be taking radical corrective action. And what’s that action? Fighting ethnophaulism!!
If, like your Eyewitness, you just ejaculated, “What the heck is that?”, let him save you a peek into your dictionary – it’s an ethnic slur. Now a slur’s different from a cuss word – discussed above – in that it caricatures some identifiable feature of the group being derided. Like the “N” word being connected with colour. The ERC official wants “to develop a glossary of words that should not be used; (with) legislation in place that if that is done, that the authorities step in.”
So, in addition to traffic Police shaking us down, we’ll now have “slur Police”?
…those Trinis
Your Eyewitness is happy he’s explained the cathartic effect of cussing. So don’t sweat about all the cusses you let loose on those Trinis last night, when they carried on against our Warriors!!
You feel better, don’t you?!!
