The Sunday News
Christopher Mlalazi Lighterside
A FEW days ago I was surprised to find myself marvelling at an insect perched on my bathroom window.
I don’t know the name or type of insect but it was obviously tiny, green and had long legs.I must admit that I wanted to grab something and swat it but alas I somehow changed my mind and instead began studying it. Perhaps it was my inner artist character that led me to study it.
While probing the insect, images of childhood friends with long legs quickly came to mind and believe me I had many of those while growing up.
So I immediately started thinking of how we dis each other, comparing ourselves to such creatures.
Many of us dreaded being given nicknames of insects and this was common at primary school.
I don’t know why school kids like giving those kinds of nicknames to other kids, or maybe it’s because they spend most of their time playing in the garden, the park or the bush and hence they are very close to nature and insects.
I can remember quite a few insect nicknames, and I will safely say that most of them were unpleasant. Names such as mosquito quickly come to mind.
Slim-bodied people were called mosquito — please note, I said slim and not thin.
And then there were inyeza (cicada), the annoyingly noisy insect that makes noise during the hot summer season. You can guess the kind of people that were given that name.
Then there were the intethe/intothoviyane (grasshoppers). If you were an athlete, talented in high jump at school, you would ultimately be christened with that name.
Other people were nicknamed after birds, animals and all according to behaviour or characteristics.
I can especially remember some girls in our school who were called intaka. Intaka is the beautiful and highly colourful weaver bird, normally seen along rivers and dams.
This bird can really weave a highly elaborate nest, almost like some of the natural hairstyles we see on some ladies’ heads. So you can imagine the status that went with being called intaka.
Then there was the giraffe! A good attribute for the giraffe is its ability to be able look over hedges and security walls with its towering neck. There were people that were called impukane (flies). Well for one, I know that if a penniless guy in the neighbourhood is skilled in following and attaching himself to other guys who have lots of money so that he can also have shares in its spending, this guy is always given this nickname because when a fly decides to follow a person it can really give you no space.
And there is nothing about following a stink in the calling of a guy impukane; it’s all about following clean people.
Well, some are given nicknames of kitchen utensils. I know for one that some ladies are proud to be called udiwo.
We all know what that is; yes that traditional shapely vessel or pot made from clay which men drink umqombothi from, or amahewu.
If people refer to somebody as a cooking pot without a lid, normally the reference is on that when a person is planning something, they are unable to keep it a secret and will go about yelling the plans in the streets or writing about it on social media.
I have never heard anyone being called a saucer, or a cupboard, but it would be interesting to meet such nicknames and get to know how the owners earned them.
And back to our insect on the bathroom window, which brought all these chains of thought.
What did I do to it? Of course I opened the window and it flew away into the wind.
