When Bev’s sons were visiting, I explained to them that it would be important to their social life that they learned to blow the conch.
There is a story that explains that as part of the passage to man-hood, every young Bahamian male had to find an appropriately sized conch by swimming for it, by cleaning it themselves, by turning it into a horn and by learning to blow it, much as one would blow on a trumpet. At sundown, each young male would then blow their conch to announce their availability and where they were. I am not sure if this was the beginning of the expression “blowing your own horn” but, in effect, this was part of a mating ritual. No young woman would be interested in any male that did not blow their own conch since they obviously had not yet passed to manhood or were not available.
What you have to realize is that there is absolutely no truth to this story – but then one should not let the facts get in the way of a good story should they?
There is a story that explains that as part of the passage to man-hood, every young Bahamian male had to find an appropriately sized conch by swimming for it, by cleaning it themselves, by turning it into a horn and by learning to blow it, much as one would blow on a trumpet. At sundown, each young male would then blow their conch to announce their availability and where they were. I am not sure if this was the beginning of the expression “blowing your own horn” but, in effect, this was part of a mating ritual. No young woman would be interested in any male that did not blow their own conch since they obviously had not yet passed to manhood or were not available.
What you have to realize is that there is absolutely no truth to this story – but then one should not let the facts get in the way of a good story should they?
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