Do you ever stop to wonder whether Setswana is like other languages when it comes to using metaphors or speaking in such a way that the uninitiated would find it difficult to comprehend?

It is said that one day after his installation as the paramount chief of the Bangwato, President Ian Khama used to have visitations from his subjects to tell him about their problems.

One of the subjects was having a domestic problem. After sitting down and greeting the "Kgosikgolo", he told Khama that his wife was refusing with the blankets.

Khama, being uninitiated in matters of Setswana and known for his straightforward opinions in solving sticky issues, did not waste time in advising the subject.

'Why don't you buy your own blanket because there is no use fighting over the blankets which your wife is refusing to share with you," said Khama.

Little did "Kgosikgolo" know that the man was actually saying his wife was denying him conjugal rights.

For the uninitiated, Botswana could be a nation of dancers as a majority of its subjects dance to a certain animalistic beat.

When getting to know each other, nowadays people can speak of anything like their children, their email addresses or cell phone numbers, when introducing themselves to potential friends or acquaintances. They never ask what the other person dances to.

Even if they do, the reply might be, jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae, rock 'n' roll, phatisi, dikhwaere and so on.

But in the olden days, a prompt reply of, "I dance to a crocodile, or duiker, baboon, or elephant, or lion," would be furnished without much ado.

The animals were treated with such reverence, their dancers would not touch them.Legend has it that before they reverted to the duiker, the Bangwato danced to a crocodile.

During a tribal war, the king of the Bangwato hid among some shrubbery as enemies were pursuing him. When they got to where he was hiding, a duiker sprang out. The pursuers gave up the chase as they did not expect the king to be sitting side by side with a timid animal like a duiker.

When he emerged from his hiding place the king decreed that from then on, the Bangwato would dance to the duiker as it had saved his life.

Sometimes when a man takes ill and visits a traditional diviner, he would be told he has stepped on a carcass of an animal he dances to.

Sometimes it would be the skin inexplicably peeling or he would be developing a rash on some parts of the body. That diviner would explain that the person has touched the skin of a duiker.

Besides Bangwato who dance to a duiker, the Bangwaketsi and Bakwena dance to the crocodile. The Bakgatla dance to a flame, though this is confused with a monkey. The Batlokwa revere the hideously ugly anteater with its long snout.

Even wild pigs and hyenas have got dancers among Batswana tribes. Birds, too, have got dancers.

The dancing transcends across the tribal divide as even the Bakalanga dance to some animals. There are crocodile dancers among the Bakalanga, and those dancing to rabbits, lions etc.

If you are uninitiated to the metaphors you will be forgiven for thinking that, indeed, these people dance to or with these animals.

The animals are actually totems that give an identity to a tribe.

As the HIV/AIDS pandemic continued to ravage Botswana and ways and means were being devised to halt its onslaught, there was talk of de-mystifying sex as one of the strategies to combat the disease.

There was talk of introducing sex education in schools so youngsters at primary school would be taught what takes place between a man and a woman between the bed linens.

However, to this day, people still talk of a 'sock' when referring to a condom. Perhaps, that is why a Standard One pupil refused to take off his socks at bed time when preparing to share the bed with his sister the other day.

When asked why he was refusing he said: "I was told to use socks when I sleep with a female."