Kenyans and Insults + Thank you.....

I recall a long time ago making a comment as my alter ego about the the then tendancy of many bloggers to blindly go with the flow to "seal clapping," and the major ramifications that I didn't expect.

It is during the drama that followed I think Rista mentioned that in many ways I am a quintessential Kenyan because of my insult and the way I shrugged it off as something minor,
despite the damage it did to some people's egos. But she did have a point. We Kenyans by nature are a curt people.

Have you ever been in a Kenyan matatu and listened to how the touts talk to passengers, how the driver talks to other drivers on the road? We tend to be very gruff in the way we relate to each other as a people. It goes all the way to the top, Kibaki with his "wapumbavu" , the 1st
Lady referring to ODM politicians as not having parents or something of the sort and who can forget Moi using unprintables as the press called them to refer to his cabinet.

I remember I had this group of pals I used to hang out with in uni that had both guys and chics, when someone was acting the fool we would call them a langa (prostitute). So once we were part of a conference and there were some students from Uganda who were hanging out with us. One chic was acting up and one of the dudes told her that she was being a langa. The Ugandan student asked us what that word meant and when we told her, she was shocked. For us it was nothing to write about because that was the way we were used to talking to each other.

There was this other time when I was sitting in a matatu and a friend came to sit next to me. In typical guy fashion I had my legs wide open occupying half the seat, he looked at me and said; "kwani you're pregnant? Ebu close your legs!" I looked at him, laughed and complied.

Of course this does not mean that I am justifying going around hurling insults at strangers but I think what I have made is a poignant observation about Kenyans. I think we are among the few people who go around hurling insults at friends and enemies and let them gauge the expression on our faces to tell the difference.

Moving on, if you look at the link bar of my blog you will notice a new list of links entitled "the best of the Acolyte" It is still not yet finished but what I have been doing is going through my posts of the last 2 years and putting up the best posts.

I have to be honest about one thing. My blog sucked! From 2004 to mid 2005 it sucked so bad that I should take that part out and sell it as an industrial vacuum cleaner. But thanks to Nick, Milo, Msanii, Nick and other regular visitors who gave me support and motivation I carried on and got better with time.

I also noticed many changes. I actually used to make a stab at serious blogging way back when! There is also a large amount of soccer blogging there, one would think that I am no longer a fan. In my opinion my blogging got better as soon as discovered a style and topics I liked blogging about.
Once again to those of you who used to read my blog, to those of you who are still reading it I would like to say Asante Sana!
Ps: This the height of irony, insults and gratitude in the same post!