Where are the ladybugs?

I am deeply concerned about the amount of pesticides the 'average' gardener is using these days. I recently observed on a popular gardening programme, where lady bugs and lacewings were released into a garden, in order to remove white flies and other insects which had taken up residence.

I suddenly wondered when was the last time that I had seen a lady bug in my garden. Is it that over the years our somewhat overly-ambitious attempts to rid every insect from our gardens have resulted in the existence of one we can no longer control- our friendly neighbour the white fly?

Has our local agriculture department investigated the prospects for a well-rounded biologically integrated insect control programme by releasing lady bugs into our environment, just as they have so eagerly pursued the screw worm project?

The ball is in our court.

- Tamara Myrie

tamry@cwjamaica.com

Kingston 6

'Tek bad ting mek laugh'

I am always amused by the ever-present ability of Jamaicans to take matters of grave concern and make light-hearted fun of them. Similarly, I take note of our penchant for corrupting names of people, places and things when they seem too difficult to pronounce.

This seemingly innate ability to mispronounce words and names has transcended the realms of the illiterate and poorly-educated to find lodging within the ranks of those regarded as 'well-read and intelligent.'

Some of us will always say 'Secktember' for September no matter how many times we hear our infant children and grandchildren repeating the months of the year. At Easter services the word 'Gethsename' can be heard time and time again from someone reading from the good book even though Gethsemane is right there in front of their eyes. A trip to the passport office will make a linguist cringe listening to people say 'cerfiticket' instead of certificate.

Perhaps if we decided to teach our kids to pronounce words improperly we might succeed in getting grownups to 'pranance' correctly.

- Wayne Morris

mpmluvsu2@hotmail.com

Mt. Vernon, N.Y.