Brag or No Brag?

Habitually, some of us will sit at our favourite hangouts, sneering at ladies that pass by, simply because we find them so hard to get. We judge them of being boastful or full of themselves (Muna Sobb, Hamunj Sen Bopa). Ha! If you ask me, I guess that’s plain lack of awareness.

After paying objective attention, I think I have come to the overstanding that those that we dub boastful are in fact only decorous, confident and self-assured. I believe the boastful ones, or braggers if you like, are the attention-seekers, those whose thoughts of being cool is so overfed that they brag about it until no one cares anymore.

Strangely, the ones we think are modest are for the most part just mediocre. Like ladies that you’ll compliment say: “your outfit is awesome” for instance, and instead of saying “I know, thank you!” in acknowledgement of what’s obvious, they’ll respond by saying “Haai! Lu Nyaaw Li” (Oh! this ugly thing), but do you think they’ll wear ugly or a bad taste if they had anything better? My dear, even if you’re as ugly as hell, the fact that you've something to flaunt, flaunt it…just don’t fake it.

 

Then again some will carry their circumstances with them everywhere, purposely downplaying their every exploit or success only for people to know. Possibly unintentionally, but mostly cunningly showing off about their awesomeness, about the things they own, have seen or done, but at the same time framing it in a self condemning or reproving manner. For fucks sake that’s humble bragging.

Like the other day, I saw this young lady that posted what apparently was her finest ‘selfie’ on Facebook, with an accompanying caption: “Ughrrr! My hair is so messed up! This Peruvian hair now resembles a common ‘Mèche Nina’” - my rude mind cannot but yowl: “HELLO! Can’t you just say you’re rockin’ an umpteen thousand Dalasi hair and just get outta my face!”

There is also this one that I call an ‘only recourse humility,’ it is when folks appear humble only when they’re destitute (Yarrou Ndik Yorrugne). Many of such people cannot see others doing better without trying to belittle their grace. Like the dude that I once told y’all about; the one that looked at this ‘Semester’ dude in his BMW X6; I could see desire all over his hungry face, but then he turned to me and said: “Huh! Some people can brag; boy if I don’t tell you I am a ‘Semester’ you wouldn’t know” – so apparently he’s also a ‘been-to’.

AND don’t ask me what category I fit in. I try not to hide my true personality from view, but my attempts are somewhat overtaken by the undeserved high opinion that folks have of me, and that sometimes makes me feel two-faced. Naturally, I'm a bubbly but unpredictable person and I love it.