The Gypsy Speaking Guyanese
One thing that amuses me is the way people react to a new language or an accent. Growing up as a child in a Guyanese home, my mom spoke gibberish or gypsy a lot to us, especially when she was correcting my siblings and I in public. Although my mom spoke perfect English and she loved Standard English, she even majored in English, she at times would slip into her accent; mostly when she was mad. I used to mimic her so much that I started doing the same when I was upset. I basically was a little Guyanese girl when upset mainly because my Guyanese background was a main part of my upbringing.
One day, in the small part of the Erasmus hall lunchroom, filled with loud middle schoolers who swarmed the lunchroom with preteen stench, I had found out that one of my old friends was spreading rumors about me. Childish things she said of course, but it led to her dating my crush. When I found out the news my whole body felt like it was on fire, like I was ready to explode out of anger because how could she betray me like that. I wanted to cry but I sucked up the tears that was forcing their way through my tear glands and tried to take a deep breath. I eventually called my mom to get her to calm me down and decided to speak to her in gibberish so no one would be in my business. It seemed as if a lunchroom that sounded like an audience at a circus quickly went silent, all you could hear was crickets and some little Guyanese girl speaking gibberish. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. Some said I sounded like I had a mouth full of marshmallows and some even started mimicking me:
“Apokapakpako”
“What the hell is she saying?”
*giggles*
There I was in my light blue polo shirt, pleated navy-blue skirt with black school shoes, smiling out of nervousness and blushing out of embarrassment. I was so uncomfortable; I was afraid to even continue my conversation with my mom.
“Theypay apar lapookapin apat mpee crapazapee mapamapee, I’ll call you later” (They are looking at me crazy mommy)
Afraid of what? judgement, like why mimic me? Why talk about me or look at me like I’m crazy? because I’m speaking an unpopular language? I felt embarrassed because of how everyone was looking at me. I wanted to run into the girl’s bathroom and hide to continue my conversation with my mom, but I had to go to my last class of the day. In class all they did was tease me about how I was speaking because they’ve never heard anything like it before. I understand it was something new to them but still, why make fun of someone’s culture or way of communication?
“Thank God it’s Friday” was all I could think because “when Monday comes no one would remember anything.”
After that day, I never spoke gibberish around anyone in school because I didn’t want to feel embarrassed. Till one rainy afternoon when my mom had called me about a personal family matter. Quickly, I rushed into the smelly girl’s bathroom, although it smelled like private area stench and vanilla body spray, it was my safe spot in the school. To avoid possible embarrassment about the family issue I had to speak gibberish. I thought I was alone in the bathroom till I saw a short girl in her black school shoes, with her navy-blue pants, blue polo shirt and her navy-blue blazer. It was our 7thgrade president, my close friend Xanthe, she was in the bathroom with me. After I got off the phone, she asked me “what happened” in gibberish and I was shocked, I had a huge smile on my face.
“Ahh you understand me!”
“Of course, my family is from St. Vincent and they speak gibberish out there too.”
Someone else in my school spoke the same language as me, even though she used Cs and I used Ps when speaking gibberish, we still had an understanding of one another. From this day on we got closer. She’s one of my closest friends to this day. We gained a trust in one another and would publicly vent to one another in gibberish just because we knew no one else understood us. She helped me show pride in my culture. We rubbed it in everyone’s face like you have to whisper your secrets and people can still hear you, we can just speak a different language.
Although it’s still annoying when people mimic me when I speak gibberish due to their ignorance, I just learned to laugh it off instead of taking it to heart. Occasionally, I’m still shy when it comes to speaking in gibberish, like how Safwat Saleem expressed his childhood self to be when speaking in general due to his Pakistani accent. If I’m not having an in-person conversation with someone in gibberish, I don’t speak in the language due to the way people react. Life would be so much better if people could make different the new normal. If people did except different then no one would feel discriminated against because of their culture or up bringing. Regardless the English we speak isn’t even perfect Standard English. Like June Jordan said, “What we casually call “English,” less and less defers to England and its “gentle- men.” So, if it’s not the way England created it then it’s not Standard. Americans do not speak Standard English themselves so why discriminate against the people who speak a different way?
References:
Safwat Saleem’s “Why I Keep Speaking Up”
June Jordan’s “Nobody Means More to You Than Me”
