#SoSoYesterday
Change, they say is the one thing that’s constant in life; well, that just tells you something about we Africans because that right there is just something we’ve always struggled with, we’re still struggling with and will probably forever struggle with. I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m going on about? Well it’s another Monday morning so permit me rant and ramble a bit.
It’s not very easy to come up with and sustain a trend nowadays, I mean, with things like social media, reality TV, Souljaboy, Kanye and Kim K, if you manage to start a trend that lives beyond a couple of months, then you must have really come unto something special. That being said, we Africans need to understand that all things come to an end eventually – yes, even the good ones.
The average African probably doesn’t understand my last statement. Same way we hate throwing old stuff away. If I raid some of your rooms right now, I can only imagine the kind of junk I’ll find – magazines from four years ago, single pieces of socks you keep even though you’ve misplaced the other leg, old jackets that have probably outgrown you… you get the idea. Lately, I’ve come to realize that we treat major trends/fads just like we do with our junk. Still don’t believe? Let’s take a look.
Chucking Deuces
Yeah yeah I know this is like some age-old trend. I mean I’m pretty sure God chucked up the deuces after he created Adam (Yes? No?). It’s a really cool gesture and credit must go to whoever invented it. It has multiple functions as it can be used to represent the word ‘peace’ and as popularized by Chris Brown, it can represent a sort of farewell greeting but most importantly, it can set you apart as being ‘cool’ if you display it appropriately when taking a picture. But thing is – that was ages ago. I don’t know about y’all but chucking up deuces in pictures stopped being ‘cool’ a while ago. Nowadays when people do it, I don’t think they realize they just end up looking like this dude:
Chucking up deuces in pictures – #SoSoYesterday.
The Duckface
This is another one of those trends that really didn’t live long but clearly some people still haven’t gotten the memo. Let me spell it out for you. ‘Pouting’ in your pictures may have looked cool last year but if you do it nowadays, you really mostly look like this:
#SoSoYesterday
Spelling your name Stupidly
Now I don’t know if this one ever made it to trend status but I remember how a lot of young Nigerians got very ‘factor-aware’ especially as Nollywood got more and more popular some years back. It was a common thing to make fun of people who had severe cases of ‘xyz factors’ when talking (heck it’s still common) and that’s what probably led to some people spelling out their names with emphasis on factors. E.g.
Abiola – Habeeyorlar
Abayomi – Habaryormee
Busola – BooSorLar
One of my friends calls this ‘Facebook behaviour’ but sadly it still exists even outside the social network and you must agree with me that this is #SoSoYesterday.
Silly Text Substitution
Blackberry penetration in Nigeria right now is nowhere compared to what it was a couple of years ago. Nowadays you even have artisans using the smart phones but is this really an excuse for bastardizing one of its features to the point where it becomes disgusting…
I understand and appreciate the fact that we are all different and I’m sure the guys at RIM also understand this and this is probably why features like Word Substitution exist on your Blackberry. But can someone please tell me why a grown man of almost thirty will sit down and substitute words with symbols on his phone so it can look like this when he types?
This is #SoSoYesterday. Please move on.
Studio Pictures
Now before y’all tag me hater, let me start by saying I have no issues with people going to studios to take pictures just to use as their Messenger DP or Avatars – no I certainly don’t. It’s really not my hustle to knock. What I have issues with is when people go to studios to get photographed by ‘so-called’ professionals and then they end up in poses like this:
Do I need to say more? #SoSoNEVER
The list is endless; I can actually go on and on because it doesn’t just stop with us young people. Imagine people still ‘decorating’ the back of their cars, by the windshield with soccer balls, basketballs and even construction site helmets? In 2012? Again, I’m not trying to knock anyone’s hustle, maybe I’m just a little too ahead of my time or maybe I’m right and these ‘trends’ have more than overstayed their welcome. If you agree with me, use the comment box and help me identify more trends that are #SoSoYesterday and if you don’t I still want to hear from you, use the comment box and speak your mind. Cheers.
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Hahaha, that last pic is #SoSoNever
Any guy at whatever age that says "kewl", "fwend" is #SoSoNotCool
*drops mic*
Hahaha! Guilty of facebook behaviour myself but that was way back when *covers face in shame* Couldn't agree more with everything else, its the studio pics that really gets me… UGH!
Adding 'things' to every goddamed situation in ur life. Eg island things, beach things, work things I'm sure to poop is not left out shit things… urghhhh
@debola, I have to agree with you. wedding things, family things and everything things just gets on my last nerves. Gladly 'noni' seems to be taking its much needed leave. It gets irritating when you see a combo of the deuces sign, the pout and the bb pm stating 'wedding things noni', Urgh, slap me already!!!
LMAO! (Y)
@debola, #muriokunola chilling, #galleria chilling, #soakaway chilling
that duck face one is just completely OP for me… it's not cute. PEOPLE IT'S CALLED "DUCK" FACE!!!! ugh!!!!
The thing about bad spelling? Major Pet Peeve of mine! I mean, I get shorthand, but 'mawnin' (morning) 'peeshor' (picture) et al? That's just a measure to hide poor English, IMO.
Other trends which have (or which I would like to see) be recognised as #SoSoYesterday (esp in Naija):
- colored lipgloss/stick in all shades of pink and orange
- painting nails (or should I say claws?)in different colors
- bleaching aka toning
- short, tight minidresses
- Hermes/ Birkin bags (if that's what they are called)
- boys pants pulled lower than their waists
- matching a bball cap and ur sneakers
- nerd glasses (aaaarrrgghh)
- polka-dot bowties
- boat shoes (or whatever they call them)
My list goes on and on…
@Tiki, ah ah! don't be so harsh on people. The coloured nails (length is subjective) and lip colour is a fashion fad that anyone is entitled to. You shouldn't let that get to you…
:'( But I love painting my toenails in different colours. Blue-Red-Green-Brown-Yellow is my favourite sequence ^_^
@Tiki, You should try it sometime :p
Really, the fancy characters have outstayed their welcome!
Hate-post jor :p
The shorthand(which isn't even shorter most times)/retard-type spelling was never even yesterday. That shii's been irritating since from The Beginning
Talking about ‘decorating’ the back of their cars, by the windshield with soccer balls"
Who started the idea of putting Umbrella at that spot too?? That rubbish dont work!!
How do you reach it when it is raining?
Text substitution! Aaaaarrrrgggghhh! That rubbish makes me question the person's intelligence. Its just plain retarded! #myopinion
Notin rung with umbrella in d car joo, long as windows r tinted n its not visible. And cos u cn reach it in d rain, u wanna go grab umbrella from d trunk, in d rain??? Forget relaxing d back seat, wot if u av passengers therein!
For me, signboard tees (Hacket, 8, Polo etc) n jeanz r just tacky!!! Since av paid for d clothing, y wld I wanna do free publicity for dem? Also stickers on cars or even car emblems n logos 'LX', '4WD' aren't my thing. Like my clothing, I lik car de-badged, void of paper or lettering or even logo. Simply n Ghost! My pref though!
Wo
@bii, Your car must be a micra to be able to reach the umbrella at the back windshield.
Where else do you want to put your umbrella in the car na…….. you want to put it in the trunk because people will think it is tacky?…go ahead na.
Nothing wrong with chucking up the deuces jare.
For me it is…team dis, team dat on your twitter bio…follow follow mentality
That fancy character thing grinds my gears. Freaking annoying.
And using short forms like fwend for friend and mawning for morning. Something must be wrong with you.
@Tiki tho. Your list is a lil’ bit harsh.
read this yesterday and i couldn't help laughing hence forgot to comment :) left the world of bbm some weeks ago and i cannot say how relieved i am cos some conversations with some pple required a Level20 MI5 code breaker to understand.
Lmfao! (Oh wait, is that #SoSoYesterday?).
Nice write-up. Had a good laugh!
As per the short forms, some even say 'gewd moaning', when I see these things, my eyes roll themselves!
Its what I call disgor!