So here...Wives are expected to cook and serve their husbands...that is not what strikes me though...what strikes me is how the language reinforces the idea of what a marriage should look like...
What do I mean??
Well...the verb to cook is: Oku-fumba
If I am cooking I say: Nfumba
If I am not cooking, I say: Sikufumba
Now do you want to know the word for married???
It is: Mufumbo
If I am married I just say I am: Mufumbo
and if I am not married, I say Simufumbo
See the similarity??
Its like saying, no I'm not cooking, and no I'm not married...Now that is one to smile about...the thing that made me laugh though is the conversation I had about this with my language teacher...
It went kinda like this:
"So if you are married, you can cook in the kitchen and you can cook other places too"
Hats of Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart then, if you aren't already married you would make two really great African wives!
1 comment:
But Lena. Why don't you also try Lunyankore. Just say...
Post a Comment