Dear Diary,
I want to share with you something that I witnessed today. I do witness such incidents most days but didnt give it much thought as I am doing now.
Goobe!!!!
Yelled the auto driver at a rider as he maneuvered his motorcycle very close enough to crash on the auto.
Hey Diary, "goobe" means OWL in Kannada; the most preferred word to abuse or insult drivers on the road in this part of the world I live. Its a way to emphasize how the driver has been driving as if blindfolded; lacking any sense.
There are variants in road-abuse; the more adverse middle finger show to phrases like "Veetla sollitu vandhiya?" - closely translates to did you inform your home before leaving. In Bangalore, the first word that comes out is Goobe. This word is also used to insult someone who is an idiot; who cant grasp things quickly; like in school.
Why am I obsessed with Goobe? Simply because I am a Goobe.
And we goobes have got nothing to do with the road rage. We dont even venture anywhere near humans and yet each time they are annoyed at someone; we poor things gets personified. I feel helpless that they are discriminating and insulting us. We owls are not dumb species. We are skilful enough; but each time I hear one human abusing another human by calling our name; I feel insulted.
We have discussed this in our community and my grandma says that this practice is not new but has been around for quite sometime. Why cant we do anything about it? I have heard human beings have laws against gender, racial, linguistic and all other discrimination. Dont they have a rule against species discrimination? My dad says no. They have rules and laws according to their convenience it seems.
My dad also told me that we are not the only species affected. Humans have idioms personifying every other animals so that their feelings are conveyed more effectively.
Black sheep, dog-eat-dog, rat race, fat as a pig, a wolf in sheep's cloth, a spring chicken...
I mean what if the sheep has black coat or if a pig is fat?
As slow as a sloth, as deaf as an adder, as mean as a snake...............My dad went on and on.
What sadists are they to pick on us animals?
Accusing a dog of cannibalism, blaming a rat of participating in a race or accusing that helpless chicken for having born during spring time!! Were they witness to these?
These all just because they are handicapped to be terse without mentioning us. They call themselves most evolved with the unique skill of communicating with defined languages. How preposterous! They cant even convey things across without picking on us.
What if we started doing the same with them? As selfish as a human? As nagging as a women? They are such losers; they wont be able to laugh at their own limitations :)
They can't take that - As egoistic as humans sounds best.
Diary, next time I hear someone insulting with a "goobe"; I am going to ask to knock themselves out.
See ya.
The Offended Owl O_O
P.S : This picture was taken from my office pantry on Jan 2009. The glass partition separated me and the owl.
Animals have been created for Man. When religions teach so, how do you expect any different attitude from Man?
ReplyDeleteAlso note the following which tells something.
‘I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic maniacal hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and underdeveloped nature which men have not recogonised.they represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all men have’.
Anil,
ReplyDeleteWho created religions? Its MAN;
I like this statement. "they represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all men have"
We are too proud to admit that.
Here, like Goobe, the word Ullu is used - same meaning and context but for almost anyoneand everyone who is an idiot everywhere! Ullu ke paththe and ullu ke bachche is too common too..
ReplyDeleteHere, people use C word quite frequently! well to each his own I guess..
Very interesting and amusing post :)
Very nice post. These species are discriminated because they are not "organized" to fight back, to go to court, to stage a dharna. If only they could do something like Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds", humans will stop abusing them.
ReplyDeleteA rather different perspective of the owl,it reminds me of the add by Kajol and the monkey.
ReplyDeleteThe visit of the zoo has made your post animal friendly..!! ;)
The key line in your post is the last line - 'as egoistic as a man'. Everything comes later.
ReplyDeleteA crisp post, Ooooowk! Ooooowk!'Screeetch! Kuwo-kuk! Kuwo-kuk!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for teaching the word. On the road, very useful.
ReplyDeleteBut owl is considered wise in western culture as well. So being Goobe is like being Google.
EGL is it :P
That is Harry Potter's owl perched on your windlowsill !! probably mistook you as Harry's girl friend!
ReplyDeleteNice one..
ReplyDeleteThis road sagas will never end it seems ! On a daily basis.
We,the 'superiors' can't spare anything on earth.Poor things being the prey..Hehe.
Ha ha ! Goobe ! Such a nice word and ofcourse brings back wonderful recollections of Bangalore.
ReplyDeleteAnd how close to Google ;)
Oh yes, the animals would surely second you at this ! Perhaps there would be some tension in the animal world too. Especially with the ones that have got some good ones. Watch like a hawk. Sprint like a Cheetah etc etc.. !
this comment succeeds in crowing away in circles! Doesnt it !
no one is as selfish as humans
ReplyDeleteHuman are the most confused species .In reality we abuse other living creatures like birds, animals but go crazy for the stuffed and animated ones.Loved the write up B .
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day :)
Neha,
ReplyDeleteYup!! Ullu! I know, a friend keeps calling me by that name
SG,
Yup! I wonder what would happen if they are started a dharna.
Anurag,
Hmm, I am always animal friendly Anurag, thats why I keep visiting the zoo :)
Balan,
:-) You got it
Abhi,
Hahaha, but the pronunciation is not as in 'google' but as 'goo-bay'
Hope you would get a chance to use it
Yeah EGL :)
Doc,
Oh Harry Potter has a owl? You know Doc, I am one of those species who is ignorant about Harry Potter. Havent read/watched anything on the series.
Harry's girlfriend, hmm...that sounds good :)
Melange,
Yeah, I wonder on what basis we became the 'superiors'.
Kavi,
:-P I really like to yell at someone 'Goobe!!' :-P
Haaa, yeah you have a point. Discrimination within the animal kingdom :D
sm,
Yes
kavita,
We dont realize that but are happy to be in our ignorant world by calling ourselves wise :) thanks you agree with me on this
Goobe is the first word.
ReplyDeleteWanna know the rest that follow :
Katthe - Donkey
Naayi - Dog
Handi - Pig
I dont understand why .. but why animals.They are better oriented than men.
Good to have learnt a new word. But ULLU is a very common word here.
ReplyDeleteAs selfish as a human was what I thought in mind as I started reading the post.. and then later you mentioned the same phrase below... you never know.. if the animals.. actually use such phrases in their day to day life...
ReplyDeleteAshwini,
ReplyDeleteHahaha yeah you know most people dont have time to abuse/listen till then...
After all these, begins the cuss words :P
Chowla sir,
Yeah, this part of the country; you have to replace ullu with goobe
Meety,
Yup! what if they started abusing us :P
You need to visit punjab :) that will show you the true color of slangs used by the drivers , not jsut auto ones ..
ReplyDeleteI am a die hard animal lover and I dont take any BS from anyone when it comes to animals, have had a few altercations with people on that ..
I beleive the HUMAN specie is the worst thing to happen to planet earth :)
We are racist, we are bad simple I do find and beleive the the OWL will feel insulted compared to a human .. :)
Take care
Bikram's
Even I use the word "goobe" a lot. Now I know how it offends the goobes.I shall try not to use it from now onwards.
ReplyDeleteCompared to insults heaped on maa, behens, kutte and gadhe, ullu in Hindi is very mild :). Thank you for telling me the Kannada word for owl. Luckily, no one has used it on me till all this time of my driving in Bangalore, but I would like to add it to my book of insults :).
ReplyDeleteJokes apart, what do you expect from us humans especially Indians who think nothing of insulting a person to his face about his caste, color, language. This is a poor animal after all who luckily does not follow our language.
Lucky Goobe,
ReplyDeleteSecond time on the blog. I must ask him/her for party now. :)
Bik,
ReplyDeleteYour friend told me there are only abuses to learn in Punjabi. so yeah I remember :)
I agree with you that the humans are the worst thing that could have happened to earth
Nethra,
Good :)
Rachna,
Exactly, we are the most insensitive species on earth
Makk,
Lucky me to have found the goobe :)
I was in Karnataka for few years but never heard this goobe word. Heard only Ullu. Nice we learnt one new word from you.
ReplyDeleteUsage of these words comparing animals and birds will vanish when these animals and birds started speaking. Of-course, they also might be using the same phrases on human beings with their own language which we never understand. The wordings may be 'conducive man' at the time of not offering any food, or 'lazy fellow' when the other partner is not doing any work,or 'dirty fellow' whenever they spoil each others mood. So on and so forth. So better we understand the languagues of birds and animals, then there will not be any dispute.