why, Why, WHY... Why Must You Yell?

Screaming children, screaming mothers, screaming fathers… all screaming at each other. If there is anything I have learned in my short time travelling in Laos and Cambodia it is that voice volume is not an issue. Outdoor voices are widely accepted as the norm for indoor spaces.

It’s all well and good though, who am I to say that while standing next to someone you should speak to them in 30 centimetre voices. After all that was just one of many rules back in elementary school and I’ve since broken all of those including DON’T RUN IN THE HALL, muahahaha!

It doesn’t matter if you’re about to enjoy a nice meal with a friend, if someone inside the restaurant needs something from their house a mile down the road they’re going to yell for it. It’s amazing too, that such big noises come out of such small people. I mean they reach the kind of volume that you would expect from Pavarotti or Santa Claus.

 

In Cambodia so far I haven’t been awoken by the shrill half-a-doodle-do of a rooster that is missing ¼ of its feathers. No, I’ve been brought out of sleep by a small child screaming, “AH! AH!” I have no idea why so I can only assume that he’s either walking down the hall and screaming with joy every time he comes across a line in the tile floor. Or he’s trying to run away from his shadow that won’t stop following him. Either way he’s incredibly loud!

They are the kind of yells and screams that make your teeth ache and ears bleed. If someone were to yell this way at home others would say things like “What the hell are you doing, just text them!” “If you do that again I’m going to get some duck tape and securely fasten your lips together!” “I’m suing you for disturbing my peace!” or “Someone put that kid on a reality show!”