Hello! 👋
Some days back, I was conversing with a friend who is from the same continent as me(Africa) but currently lives on a different continent, one of the top countries in the world. Along the line, I would casually add the ‘ma’ title in the texts, and she had to pause the conversation and ask me why I usually add ‘ma’. I told her that it's just a way of life in Nigeria, and most times I use it on people for fun, especially when I know we are of the same age or when I'm older than the person. She concurred that she knows that because she's from Africa, but the country’s lifestyle she lives in currently has influenced her because over there, they don't fancy titles. She made mention of how her professor asked her to call her by her name instead of adding the ‘ma’ always. I wasn't surprised; I've seen a lot of movies of the whites where their culture doesn't frown at children calling their parents by their names or calling their elders by their names.
Culture, they say, is the way of people's life, and in my part of the world, our culture forbids a child from calling their elders by their names. It'll sound like a taboo. We don't joke with titles here; it holds a great value of respect, even though we use it casually sometimes.
As for me, I like to give out the respect, but I don't give a big concern to getting it back. However, there's a situation where I always expect the respect, and if I don't get it, I could go on to fight for it.
I have children in my area who usually come around to play, and sometimes I play music for them to dance to, and they all add ‘uncle’ anytime they refer to me. But I don't know what enters their heads sometimes — they're found calling me without the ‘uncle’ attachment, and the sound will come off so weird, with loads of disrespect, and I won’t lie, I always raise my voice to shun and correct them. Lol
Thanks for reading.
This is my response to sci-fi multiverse contest of the week.
Photo used is mine