Piopio Piopio Pio! (A+)

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

  ... feet that are quick to rush into evil,

  a false witness who pours out lies 

       and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” Proverbs 6: 16-19

Una don see when Amebo dey run go give gist before? They can almost trip over themselves sometimes! It’s not even their fault that their feet dey hurry to gossip- we all know say bad tory dey sweet well well....somehow there is a 'high' one gets
from being the first to break a news story....that’s why organisations like CNN, BBC, DELTA RADIO still dey bizness...however, when one person decide to be telephone-without-battery, network-without-satellite, then we need to check am. That is what is called ‘Amebo’, Tatafo’, ‘Aproko’, and what I call ‘piopio piopio pio!’....when ur leg dey hurry u go dey give gist wey u nor know concern! If your hobby is sharing secrets and lies you are definitely A+.  Women are more prone to it cos we spend so much time blabbering about what we shouldn’t even be thinking about. Everyone gossips, I know I do sometimes, but its not good.

Here’s what I have observed about features of amebo gist:

1.      Usually does not concern the parties involved

2.      Seldomly benefits anyone who hears it

3.      Always runs down the subject of the aproko

4.      Never said in front of the subject, except erroneously.

I have also observed symptoms of an amebo carrier (A+positive)

1.      Always eager to obtain (gather) gist

2.      Always in yo bizness!

3.      Always exaggerates gists...even something as little as boiling egg!

4.      Always nice (so as to obtain gist).

There I am, just minding my bizness, trying to buy myself a new shirt and my friend goes;

...”i saw this shirt on Rebecca...it didn’t fit her at all! Infact she looked like a monkey...it’s not her fault sef, she looks like her father, & her father is d carbon copy of a gorilla, if u don’t believe me i'll show u a picture of her dad on facebook during his 60^th birthday”...

In one minute she don run someone’s generation down, why? 

You can tell alot about someone from the kind of things they talk about. Listen to people gossiping and it will reveal so many things about their personalities. Be careful if you meet someone who has everyone’s gist in the palm of their hands. They make good acquaintances but are bad as friends cos just the way they are giving you gist about others, they will be gisting about you! Yeah, Yeah, I know they say if you are not talked about, you are not important, but seriously who likes hearing bad stuff about them? not me sha

So Angelina’s fathers, uncle, cousins, step-brothers, nephews grandchild has OCD...how does that concern you? How does it concern me? How does it affect the price of garri in the market? Gist that does not have a good motive should be refrained from. Please. For all involved. Gist that does not even have any motive should also be refrained from. Do we know how many times we have used this mouth...this mouth oh, your bb, your yahoomessenger, your tweets, to spread gist wey nor get foundation. What are the gains? What will be the consequence of the gist? what is the intention as well?

All these girls wey like Amebo, dem no dey fear oh. Dem never jam waffi chic wey go block dem for corner, give dem uppercut and sandpaper their face. That can be a very good consequence...Anybody wey like to spread gist....if dem caaaaaaatccchh u...e don red. So be warned & be careful of who u gossip about. 

I know asking us to stop talking about others is not practical because it is normal as social beings to do so, so I'll add this twist, next time you find yourself talking about other people say nice things. Try it... “Amaka looks good today”...it’s easy! If you nor get any beta tin to talk about people, then shaaaarrrraaaap! God hates it. It does no good to anyone. If you find yourself in a situation where others are gossiping, keep silent, that way u are not an active participator. If you can, speak up for the person, cos most times gossips are lies. If you can’t speak up or keep silent, walk away. If you can’t do any of these and you have friends who display such chronic symptoms of being A+, then change your friends cos very soon...their hand go touch you!

Attention: Until your fart starts smelling like dodo, and your whole life is perfect, stop gossiping!

You can use "Socrates’s Test of Three"

 One day an acquaintance ran up to Socrates and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass the Test of Three. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man replied, “actually I just heard about it.”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued, “You may still pass though, because there is a third test – the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really…”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True not Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”

The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.