Dear Editor,
I wouldn’t have thought that anyone else remembered the then Traffic Chief Joe Braz’s refashioning of English pronunciation until I saw the Gittenesque use of “chouse” in her condemnation of how things went during the Gala State Dinner marking the country’s Independence Jubilee.
Long, long, long ago, the Traffic Chief in a then fairly uppity Georgetown had spoken of increasing indiscipline among motorists, and that if action was not taken there would be “chowse” (Yolande Gittens spells it “chouse”. The situation around the Stabroek Market, he said, was “chowtic.”
After Braz’s broadcast, I amused my friends no end by devising a quiz and asking “what is a Brazzere?” And they, responding to the phonetics, contended over who would be first with the obvious correct answer: an intimate female garment.
After the first responder, each of the others had his turn, and the answer was identical. Then I stunned them with the correct answer: chowse (or Ms Gittens’ chouse) for chaos is a Brazzere, and chowtic for chaotic, another Brazzere.
It was very disappointing to view through Ms Gittens’ eyes how distressingly wrong things went at the gala, but then I enjoyed a hearty laugh when towards the end of the letter her ‘chouse’ brought back memories of those glorious traffic days of Brazzeres in Georgetown.
Yours faithfully,
Hubert Williams
USA
