This Man named his dog — Talk your Own
A reminder to mind your business
My big sister once told me of a certain Tiv man who had named his dog in Tiv language as ‘Or I you’ — literally translated as Talk your own.
If you’ve been to rural Nigeria, houses are found quite close together, even when fences are utilized, it doesn’t make much of a difference and neighbors are close enough to borrow salt or pepper to make a meal.
I grew up climbing and fighting atop fences, got my fair share of punishment for those times as well.
Anyway,
There are a lot of benefits to this kind of communal living , in emergency cases, neighbors can send one to the hospital, parents can help each other baby sit. Everything has its weak and strong points.
One disadvantage is the prevalence of gossip. Everyone one knows whose wife did what and which husband recently bought a new boxer, which sister just got pregnant.
The most gossipy ones will describe this activity as passing on news and keeping everyone up to date with what’s happening.
The religious ones would use interceeding for a certain neighbor to spread the latest gist — a typical prayer meeting could go like this ; Mama Ibeji raising a prayer point for Mama Rose whose daughter was on admission due to an abortion attempt and everyone should pray for God to forgive the daughter and preserve the daughter’s life.
And sadly most people need to join or befriend a gossipy neighbor because they carry timely news too- it alike social media also has its good and bad points — if not, you could miss the latest updates on why the power supply has been erratic or why the water in the neighborhood has been scarce and where to get water from.
So, this Tiv man, in his closely knitted neighborhood had named his dog — Talk your own.
He was an elderly man who had enough gusto to do what he wanted to do.
He could be found at odd times, in the most of unlikely places, it didn’t matter whether he was invited to a meeting or not, you could be sure his dog will be in your corner, with him calling out loudly for his dog.
He would disrupt such meetings without a care for anybody, his steadily scrutinizing every one while he repeated the words, Talk your own, talk your own. (but he was always just looking for his dog)
Because culture dictates that one shouldn’t talk back at your elders, these neighborhood women would be forced to call out the dog together with him.
This man had found a novel and nice way to remind people to mind their business.
Eventually, this became the neighborhood slogan. Every local forum leader could be heard reiterating it, the local pastor would always remind the church, the women and children began to remind themselves to talk your own.
I can’t remember why my big sister had mentioned this story to me, but I’m sure I may have tried to start an interesting discussion about someone else with her. (Not gossip 😛)
Let’s be honest, if we were to talk about our (personal, family, secret) businesses, it’ll be enough gossip to last a century.
Let’s allow others to be the custodians of their stories.
Besides, we could be so much more productive just focusing on our business.
So that’s it for today folks, talk your own and remember to remind others to talk their own too.
Thanks for stopping by.
“Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours” ~ Epictetus
