Friday, June 29, 2007

emancipation

The other night, in the ad breaks of another programme, I started watching a debate on Maori TV. It was in the Maori language, which I don't understand except for sporadic words, but it had subtitles, and I ended up jotting down some quotes because it was so what you would not see (or get away with) on any other TV channel!

The topic for debate was: A tribe's survival depends on a woman with balls.

Starting right there, I knew I was in for something special. And as the leader of the affirmative team (is that what you call it? I can't rememeber) said, confirming all my hopes: "I believe for a woman to be strong she must have balls. I can prove women have balls."

The other team, on the other hand, had a few gems up their sleeves:
"Women are the hair on men's legs."
"I know of matriarchs with balls, and they're crafty, crafty."
"If women stood on my marae*, my balls would drop."
"Women, there is a place for you, in the kitchen, looking after the tamariki."**
"A woman is a queen, a man is a god."
"Without balls, we wouldn't be here."

And my personal favourite insult directed towards the affirmative team - "You're all drunkards."

Persuasive, right?!

* A marae is a Maori meeting house. Certain tribes have quite strict etiquette restricting women from specific roles in a marae or in ceremonies.
** No points for guessing what tamariki means.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that I am awake at 2:50 in the morning because I got to read this earlier. Honestly, Oprah, the UN often say the same thing in different words, along the lines of "If developing countries are ever going to make it, it's dependent on their women".

From now on when I disagree with someone, I will simply say "You are a drunkard"

LEstes65 said...

I wish I could have seen this. I watched some horrid French movie recently - I ignored most of the subtitles as I recall quite a bit of French. But it was NOWHERE as entertaining as your viewing!

Trish Ryan said...

Man - things aren't dull in your neck of the woods!
:)

Stacy said...

What a gem!

Beck said...

"You are a drunkard."
BEST COMEBACK EVER.