There used to be a photograph making the rounds on social media of a woman in full-fledged delivery of a non-verbal boof/bouf/bouffe to a child in the midst of a church service.
It reminded me of my mother because my mother was a boss at
this. She would tilt her head downward then look up and sideways at you with
her eyes open wide … unblinking. Her lips stuck to each other, the sides curved
upward and wrinkled as with a fake smile.
It was the kind of lip position that catered for a through-the-lip
steups if required. If she shook her head just once, fully expect prompt delivery
of charge, verdict, and punishment back home.
There were occasions, not in public, she would reach for
her slippers and learn the sprint of children. Sometimes it would be a quick
open palmed slap across the shoulder.
As an 11 or 12-year-old child of people who had children
young, you also realise sooner rather than later that your father – who played
competitive sport and claimed to have hit the QRC tower with a six, five years
before he got married - can still outrun you. I remember that one time the
chase involved a leather belt.
The preferred punishment was Mom’s boofs or an assignment
from Dad to count cars as they passed along the Eastern Main Road in St
Augustine. If the sentence involved more than one child, the car tally had to
be individually ratified or you were sent back to the gallery. Sometimes, a
traitorous sister would refuse to cooperate, and the numbers would not square.
The point here is that the boof was what counted most in
the Gibbings household. Now, if the sub-editor touches my use of “boof” I will
not be happy. Even the experts agree that a final form remains unfinished
business.
Lise Winer’s ‘Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad
& Tobago’, for example, offers four versions – buff, boof, bouf and bouffe.
Its etymology is vast. I however prefer the use of “boof” which carries greatest
onomatopoeic value and evades the threat of linguistic gentrification.
Use “bouf” or “bouffe” and the pronunciation would tend to
be more reminiscent of the “Côte de Boeuf” at a fancy restaurant than the
“boof” delivered by Aunt Harriet at the party.
In relatively well-adjusted families, boofs come before the
licks, (if licks are at all to be administered). In some households, there are prompt,
stinging, open-palm, fingertip slaps on the arm or shoulder or a “tap” at the
back of the head.
There are others who prefer different chronologies. There
would be the initial verbal admonition or guidance (“do NOT touch that”), the
beg (“don’t do that nuh”), a boof (“what I tell you”), a withdrawal of
benefits, an offer of reward, more boofs, and then licks like peas … in that
order. Mind you, my son (who at 26 is a model citizen and ethical to a fault) was
never subjected to corporal punishment at home.
Proposed speedier transitions usually come from those who consider
themselves to be out of the line of fire (such as a big brother or sister) and
who believe “bouffs/bouffes” are a soft sell before an audience of lesser
mortals. “Lash dey (not my) tail!”
“I (whap) told (whap) you (whap) to (whaddap) take (whoop)
the (whap) vaccine!!!”
If you think about it, this is the authoritarian SOE
approach. This is despite early counsel that “an SOE cannot get you to wash
your hands” – an admonition dismissed by “PR” hustlers and people clueless
about some basic elements of behaviour change.
In fact, there has since been much boofing about the
boofing. “You (boof) are (boof) NOT (boof) to boof!”
It is in the manner of paternalistic authoritarian cultures
to skip the queue of moral suasion, and non-verbal and verbal “boofing” to head
straight for the guava tree. (“Dey too harden. Cut dey tail”).
This is not to suggest that, eventually, licks are always an
implausible option, but that a good example, appeals to reason, and boofs properly
come first. Between the SOE (“you not getting to go to the party”) and the
mandate (“messy room = no party”) there is likely to be much more begging and many
boofs to come.
Stuck at 46% (my initial uneducated guess was 40%), the gap
between suasion, begging, boofing, and outright licks is narrowing.
Some say the time has come. They might be right. The room
is messy alright while, and yes, some feel we need to party.
