MYOB

This was what one of my class teachers used to write on someone’s forehead, especially those who we would call ‘tattlers’. MYOB stands for ‘Mind your own business’. 

And ‘tattlers’ were an exceptionally irritating breed of elementary school inmates who would rather peek into what someone else was doing than minding their own business. And the moment someone in the classroom erred away from the dictums of elementary schools, a tattler would stand up and say ‘Teacher, teacher … He is not using a red Nataraj HB pencil”. 

And promptly my class teacher would brand ‘MYOB’ on the tattler’s forehead! Justice was swift. Alas not all class teachers were like that, especially those who, I fear, were ‘tattlers’ themselves. 

I wonder what has happened to that breed. Are they still lurking around only to jump at the opportune moment? Or have they become elementary school teachers? 

They are living in our midst. They still poke their noses into what is essentially not their business. Mind you, detectives and law enforcement personnel are not tattlers at all; they poke their nose in what is very much their business. I am talking more like over-weight neighborhood aunties, who think peeping is next to Godliness. Or, the short, dark, shifty uncle who is the head of your co-operative society. Well, we all know them, and have come to accept them as a part of our society! After all, these are the elements that make for a colorful society (Co-operative or otherwise!). 

Haha, but when I come across articles like this, I am forced to say to Matthew Parris - MYOB! He is essentially poking his nose into what is not his business! Tintin comics are not intended for people with hormone-infested-brains! So we should leave the character analysis to those who are qualified to do the job; i.e. elementary school students. 

Matthew Parris (and many other like him) has essentially applied the ‘gay’ stereotype to a comic character, found similarities, and hence the conclusion that ‘Tintin is gay’. By the same logic I could apply the ‘comic’ stereotype to gay people (It has been done in numerous movies) and conclude that ‘Gay people are comical’. Funny?