IT LIKE IT IS the norm now tuh be what the old people used tuh call a “follow pattern”. Somehow it looks like most people nowadays like duh ain’t interested in setting the pace, setting duh own standard or even leading the way fuh a soul tuh follow; evahbody just following and going ’long.
Duh following somebody or something. It looks like some people does just wait till somebody come up wid something dat they think could work or, duh reckon dat if it works fuh dat body who come up wid it, it could work fuh dem too, so dem does bong on pon it. Duh ain’t know the meaning o’ originality – dat is a bad word tuh dem.
Well, we all know dat the young people does say and do evahthing duh see pon BET. One time duh used tuh wear the caps wid the peaks behind duh heads. Well, duh doan do dat now; duh wearing caps alright, only this time it is dem big hard ones wid an American basketball team name on pon the front. I think I hear my nephews calling dem snapbacks or something so; and duh selling fuh way past $50 depending pon the team.
I had tuh tell my nephews dat dem caps is old news. Dem was up long time. Duh only come back wid a different name. Doan leh nuhbody fool wunna; just because evahbody wearing and clamouring fuh dem, it ain’t mean dat dem gotta get dem too. But you know ya cahn convince dem, ’cause evahbody wearing dem.
One time some smart body come up wid the grand idea tuh make fishtail dresses, the ones dat got a short front and a long piece flying behind. Well I ain’t gine tell you nuh lie: I think dem is some o’ the ugliest designs I have seen in a long time. If ya see one ya see all – and, look, evabody in dem, even the girls wid the biggest legs and the knockest knees.
Doan talk ’bout the shoes at all. Because the next-door neighbour daughter and every other young girl got on dem dragon heel weapons, you gotta get some too, even if you cahn walk in dem. The other night I went tuh the show Mum, This One’s For You, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre and duh had a good few young people there.
You should see dem in the shortest o’ dresses and the tallest o’ shoes scotching and gine ’long, ain’t able tuh walk in the two upstairs things but evahbody wearing dem, so you gotta be in the do too, even if it doan suit you.
Sometimes I wonder if the young girls nowadays understand wha’ duh doing when duh going and getting pregnant fuh deadbeat block boys who cahn do one flipping thing fuh dem.
Sometimes I just wonder if duh following and getting pregnant because duh friend or friends get pregnant, like duh follow patterning, like if it is some kind o’ fad or game or something so. Li’l bony, hard-side girls who ain’t know the first thing ’bout looking after demselves, far less a child.
The thing about it is dat all o’ dem does wear the same kinda tight, nippy clothes dat dem and duh friends used tuh wear before duh was pregnant and duh does get on the same very way like evahbody instead of understanding and accepting dat duh gine soon be mothers. It is too sad; it does make ya shake ya head, hear wha’ I tell ya?
If you pass down Black Rock around three o’clock any evening when the children get out from school, you would see a host o’ young boys wid scarfs in all colours tie round duh heads or hanging outta duh pockets. Now half o’ duh ain’t know what the colours mean and which gang duh belong tuh, hear? But duh got dem on and posing, showing off tuh theli’l schoolgirls.
The older people ain’t much different either. Wha’evah the young people wearing, and doing, dem wearing and doing too. Evahbody following evabody as if dem ain’t got minds o’ duh own. If you barely open one o’ ya windows and decide tuh sell a few drinks and snacks tuh make a extra dollar, a couple days after you start, before the week out, somebody two doors down from you gine be on pon the same idea and selling the same identical things. Ya think we easy? We does wait fuh somebody tuh do it first and then pick up from there.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
