The Hooters dilemma, “To Quote or not to Quote" is indeed one of Mother's tormentuous gift to all of us who sometimes pull on her Petticoat to inquire about the manner in which her adopted children ought to engage in conversations in her name.

Mother had established the requirements embedded in her "Rules of Engagement", with references to the contextual requirements for differentiating the meaning and intent of her words and phrases, so that her children would not be confused between "the difference in similarities" in what was actually said; meant to be said and the reason for saying it.So we must continue to nudge her, as her prescribed language seems always in need of clarity, even among some of her more astute children as we continue to wrestle with complying to her rules.

Here on our Gogouyave Talkshop, my good friend Tony De, with his wittiness and mastery of penmanship; complemented with a keen eyes for any disobedience to Mother's rules, seems to have fallen prey to the subtle differences between Lady G's borrowing of his restricted single-quoted text >>>>>.......'I do not give a hoot'. This of course, came with the qualifying phrase …..'about anyone's faith selection' as she stated her displeasure with the way her biological Mother was disparagingly treated ….."Insultive bullying and wickedness" said she, by a person of different religious persuasion<<<<<.

Lady G’s deviation from her more structured vocabulary to accommodate an expression contained in the axiom and used in our colloquial vernacular as expressed first by Tony (with appropriately noted quotations) was only to emphasize her indifference for her mother’s tormentor, regardless of her religious persuasion; nothing else. This, however had seemed to rattle my friend’s nerves, enough to require a rare retort of a defense, as he saw it as an attempt of a character assassination.

But on review of Tony G’s initial statement of >>>>>…..Hey Melo, I personally couldn't give a hoot that the queen bestowed the BEM MEDAL on Albert Joseph, and for that matter anyone else……<<<<< had indeed also echoed resenting sentiments (albeit justifiable, in my opinion) harbored by one of her former subject as a means of dissent to Mother’s hegemonic power, hence diminishing and neutralizing her influence over those she had once conquered. In essence, he was making a subliminal rhetorical statement by saying “…… Queen! as far as I am concern, we do not need your blessings of notoriety and recognition to honor our own, we can do this by ourselves”.

So there should not have been any misinterpretation on the part of my friend as to the meaning of Lady G’s use of the phrase he had coined and had he placed it in the proper context; independent of the intended qualifiers, he would have discovered it was a mere statement of discontent; something they both had shared but with different reasons.

His tirade of “>>>>>>……Maybe I'm living in a different world, but Lady G, please let me know since when the act of the queen bestowing the BEM MEDAL on someone has become or always was a religious act…….. Are you trying to paint me as a religious hater who has no respect for other's religion? <<<<<
AND
>>>>>>……..If I'm wrong please tell me my dear lady, what point are you trying to make by twisting what I said, so you can write >>Whilst using Tony’s phrase, ‘I do not give a hoot’ about anyone’s faith selection, but no one should wickedly afflict folks life with the misery based on their preferred religious beliefs or expectations, folks religious selection based on their own criteria whether it is right or wrong in anyone eyes…..<<<<<< could have been a delayed reaction from “ingesting a warm brew of some kind” to combat this sub-zero temperature we are having because the dilemma between the “two Hooters” use of the same phrase required no explanation at all by Mother.

They were the same phrase but with independent qualifiers.

I can see Cecil Peters, Mango Dog, Lyinka, Teacher Yep and the Lioness, Paulita laughing in glee at the Two Hooters abandonment of the words and phrases in our local parlance to express discontentment in order to appease Mother.

“e dam! good for dem” they would say and I too “do not give a hoot”…..LOL

VJL

Verne, a friend called me, while another e-mailed me expressing the same sentiment like yours. Perhaps I totally misunderstood the lady's point. If so, I apologize.

Perhaps the real lesson learnt from this episode is that the written and spoken word can be understood quite differently by different people. That's why we all should try our best to be as clear as we can in what we say and how we write so that there is little room for misunderstanding from the audience.
Certainly it is not an easy thing to do. Who say the English language is easy? It is so filled with different nuances and meanings etc. Nevertheless it is incumbent upon all of us to try, especially when we are using other peoples' words to make a point.

This mother's child is lamenting that the use of Mother's language can so easily throw us off track!