Nigerians and Cruise have become the bane of social media and I’ve just heard about it. I’m sure there are other people who are tired too. The cruise I’m talking about here is not a cruise like being on a boat somewhere, no. It’s not the cruise you talk about when you’re taking a drive out to enjoy the scenery, no. It’s something different. In Nigerian slang, ‘cruise’ is where you are making fun of the situation by making light of the subject matter. So for instance, someone would say something derogatory and when there’s backlash the excuse would be, “Oh, it was just cruise.”
This past week the Nigerian Social Media space has been agog with news of so many happenings.. Killings, Kidnaps, Molestation, etc; in the midst of that you see people saying “What is all this? Na Desmond Elliot cause am.” That’s another form of cruising. For some reason someone started the joke that Desmond is the cause of all of Nigeria’s problems so people insert it in everything. That’s fine and well when the subject matter is not serious but some people have taken it too far. You will see a post of something serious involving a minor and the R word that we shall not mention and someone comes around to say “Na Desmond Elliot cause this one?” What does that mean? Are you joking about it or what? That’s the only input you had?
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How did ‘cruise’ even come to be? Remember Mike in Big Brother? His team name once had something to do with Cruise and he meant it to mean like easy going and just enjoying (I think ) but he made that word popular and now Nigerians have run with it and twisted it. I know we deal with issues with humour here and, that’s fine, but ‘cruising’ when it’s serious issue trivializes the matter and that is not okay.
Social Media is meant to be a fun place but we do discuss serious topics too and we can’t make light of them because of ‘cruise’. You can’t insult someone and say you’re just cruising! Haba! That’s a human being you’re talking about! And the Desmond Elliot joke is played out guys, let the man be! He’s been dragged enough for his ‘crimes’ let him rest now.
Till next time, please cruise at the appropriate time, Toodles!
