Litter-bugs. From the mouths of babes & sucklings. A bit rude.
I was telling a friend yesterday about the lamentable amount of litter (garbage) in Hopkins, Belize (though they do seem to now be making the effort to clear it up and to teach people about keeping the streets clean) when I remembered something my daughter, Pippa, said when she was about five:-
First, I have to check that my American readers know the expression “litter-bug” ? Do you use that expression ? There are so many words (litter/garbage for example) that are used differently. A litter-bug is somebody who drops litter.
Pippa was standing on a chair looking out at our garden through the hallway window.
“Oh dear …” she said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Dem dustmen have dwopped lots of wubbish all over de gwass.”
I glanced out of the window. Indeed, there was an unacceptable trail of rubbish across the front lawn, something that would never happen these days.
“Deary me,” I said, “lazy men. Litter-bugs.”
Pippa looked at me.
“They have dropped litter,” I explained, “so that means they have been litter-bugging.”
She nodded her little head and clambered off the chair.
“Daddy is in the kitchen,” I told her, “he will help you eat your breakfast”- and she trotted off.
“Daddy!” I heard her exclaim, “daddy! De dustmen have been buggering on the lawn!”
Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist. She is widely travelled and writes regularly for magazines and blog sites. Her sketches are on her web site http://turquoisemoon.co.uk . Her books are available from Amazon and on Kindle, or can be ordered from several leading book stores.
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Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist. Her books are available as e-books on this site:-
https://payhip.com/b/tEva “A Call from France”
https://payhip.com/b/OTiQ “French Sand”
https://payhip.com/b/BLkF ”The Man with Green Fingers”
https://payhip.com/b/1Ghq “Saying Nothing”
They are also available on Amazon & Kindle, or can be ordered as paperbacks from most leading book stores and libraries.
