On hissing

Here are the basics when it comes down to hissing (in my book at least): snakes hiss, cats hiss, Cal students hiss at the mention of Stanford, and Joy's roommate Glenda randomly hisses when she's in a foul mood. Now that I'm in Ghana, I have another item to add to my list -- Ghanaians!

They hiss to get people's attention. I guess Americans similarly have "pssst"-ing, but it isn't commonly used. Hissing is used all the time. Instead of an "Excuse me?" or "Hey..." to get someone's attention, you pull the hiss. I personally couldn't help but feel a bit offended at first. I guess i was still maintaining an American mentality of, "well you could have at least said excuse me..." but silly me, i'm in Ghana, not America. After the first couple of hisses i received, I got used to the cultural acceptability and normalcy of it. It still took people a few hisses to get my attention in the beginning because my ears weren't accustomed to the sound and association. But now, I find myself automatically turning my head at the slightest hiss, even from a distance. I'm also getting into the habit of hissing at other people, though it doesn't come as naturally as my response to it. So don't be surprised if I'm hissing about when I get back to the States.