Friday, February 13, 2004

Back Of(f) the Bus

It was dark and the squalid terminal was deserted when the bus pulled up and I boarded it - an articulated coach, they call them, with a bendy bit in the middle.  I went to my habitual seat, facing forward in a single on the left just past the articulation. 

Three fifteen-year-old girls burst in raucously after me.  They wore tight Ts and halters and sassy shorts and short skirts, too much perfume and elaborately braided hair and kicky little backpacks; they giggled with each other and squealed and generally acted like fifteen-year-old girls. I could barely understand a word of what they said.  But as they tumbled with peals of laughter past me toward the last rows, one of them clearly hooted out, “Niggas to da back o’ da bus!” One of her friends cackled at the joke but the other hissed back in a stage whisper, “Girl, he can hear you there!”

I could, too.  I was wearing headphones, and I like to listen to loud music, loudly - but as it turned out, at that moment I was at a quiet spot on the mix.  I could hear everything.  I just sat there.

“You think so?  He wearin’ phones.”

I couldn’t help it.  I smiled. 

All three burst into hysterical laughter and ran from the bus, tumbling out the back stairwell before we even pulled away from the landing.

MORAL: If you’re wearing headphones, but you can hear everything anyway, you should probably hold up a little sign that says “Actually I can hear everything you’re saying.” It will prevent misunderstandings. 

That’s a great human moment.  The fact that a simple smile could communicate a sign’s-worth of information and make people run from the bus in embarassment… is sweetness.

I can’t believe they ran from the bus.  What happened to all that sass?  They were “fronting,” as the kids say.

LOL...and that ladies and gents is why I LOVE teens...they just crack me up!

i actually find that remark sort of disturbing.  it strikes me as either way too flippant or way too ignorant.  but then, i wasn’t there.  did it strike you at all?

I hear comments like that all the time on the bus, always shared among members of a racial minority - black, asian, hispanic… it’s a troubling word, but in those contexts is seems to take the meaning “friend.” They were laughing, insensible to the outside world, giving voice to their private words in a public space.  That’s why they got embarassed, I think - not that they used the wrong word but that the wrong guy heard them. 

I’ve also heard it used in different contexts and it’s a hurtful word that way; the difference is hard to articulate but easy to feel.  Just as many popular curse words can mean something good or something bad, depending on context.  The scene on the bus was not particularly ambiguous.  I consider it pro-social subversive behavior to take back an epithet and turn it into a word of brotherhood.  I just better not start thinking I’m entitled to use it myself.

I like this story. Sometimes stories will make me smile, sometimes inwardly, sometimes outwardly. This one made me laugh out loud. Thanks!

Cool story—that’s exactly why I want to learn how to say,

‘Excuse me, but I understood everything you just said.‘

in as many different languages as possible. Of course, it won’t actually be true, but I think it could still be entertaining, if delivered in a believable accent at just the right point in a conversation.

The trick is choosing a lull just after a bout of giggling and surreptitious pointing and snickering. Oh, and I suppose having the balls to actually say it is important, too. Yeah, that’s probably key… I’ll have to work on that.

i’ve certainly never used that particular word, but i’ve definitely made those types of comments. and because i’ve said those types of comments i’m not so sure that they ran away in embarrassement. that possibility exists, but i wouldn’t jump to that conclusion.

it’s horrible and i admit it, but in my teens/early 20s my friends and i would make a game out of making other people uncomfortable by making statements like those. we’d throw them back and forth, secretly loving the fact that people around us were squirming. nobody ever called us on it. we’d go away laughing and would talk about it all day.

oh well. kids will be kids and all that.

dan - “I consider it pro-social subversive behavior to take back an epithet and turn it into a word of brotherhood. I just better not start thinking I’m entitled to use it myself.”

well, ok, yeah.  i mostly agree.  i have a friend who called me “slag” for a while, and although the word is absolutely crude and offensive when applied to actual prostitutes, between us girls i guess it takes on something kind of cute.  (and no, you better not start using it yourself.) but it wasn’t so much the word i was referring to as the context of the whole thing, the back of the bus and all.  though i guess the word and the context are part of the same pro-social subversive behavior, even though that’s a lot of syllables to say it’s ok for black teenage girls to call each other “niggah.” even so, i’m not sure it’s a 100% fabulous idea.

slag out.

Headphones are excellent for eavesdropping, be it intentional or otherwise. Sometimes I’ll even pause the music for a moment to pick up a conversation next to me.