Greetings are very important in Senegalese society. It is no wonder it takes me me so long to do anything, when I have to preface every interaction with five minutes worth of greeting exchange. Did you sleep in peace? Did you spend the morning/afternoon/day in peace? How is is going? Are you healthy? And your family? Your husband/wife? Your children? Your children’s children? Your work? Peace only. Whew.
One evening I has hanging out at the boutique (the Senegalese answer to a general store) with my neighborhood posse of late teens/early twenties girlfriends. We were chatting about music, dancing, and boys when the topic of “jaay-fondé” which is the Wolof word for big butt, came up. After a lengthy debate the girls decided that I had the biggest butt. BTW this is a compliment in Senegal, they like big butts here. I tried to explain that my butt is actually quite normal sized and that people like Beyonce and J-Lo had much bigger and better butts than I did. They would hear nothing of it. Despite it’s quite ordinary size and shape my butt was declared the biggest and best in the neighborhood.
The result of this declaration? Every time I greet any teenage girl (and some older women) in my neighborhood they ask about my jaay-fondé. The conversation goes something a bit like this…
Me: A Jaarama. (Hello)
Them: A Jaarama.
Me: Tan alaa. (No evil)
Them: Jam Tun. Tan alaa ton? (Peace only. No evil there?)
Me: Jam Tun. No marsude? (Peace only. How’s it going?)
Them: Seeda seeda. (Little little)
Me: Bengure ma wadi? (How’s your family?)
Them: Hibe en jam. E jaay-fondé ma wadi? (They are in peace. And how’s your big butt?)
Me: eeerrr himo en jam…? (eeerrr its in peace…?)
Needless to say, this is not a very traditional pattern of greeting. And it has led to quite a few embarrassing moments, the first occurred in front of my Senegalese grandmother. The second at the market, when greetings were exchanged at a yell across the vegetable stalls and practically everyone heard… and then stared at my big butt. Awkward.
