Everyone knew the difference between a scrawny kill and a good one, of course, but nonetheless continued to pass insults even while they were busy filling their bellies with meat— the most highly prized of all foods. Half a century ago, a Ju’hoan man provided Lee with a particularly eloquent explanation of why they did this:
“When a young man kills much meat, he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man – and thinks of the rest of us as his servants or inferiors. We can’t accept this ... so we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way, we cool his heart and make him gentle.”
This behaviour was not limited to hunting. Similar insults were meted out to anyone who assumed airs and graces, encountered a windfall or got too big for their leather sandals. Everyone in Ju’hoan communities scrutinised everybody else all the time — something easily done when all social life was conducted in public spaces.
-- Why 'Bushman banter' was crucial to hunter-gatherers' evolutionary success | Inequality | The Guardian
