ssst... sssst

I was thinking back about my trip, and something really stood out that I completely forgot to mention: throughout the African diaspora, it's basically understood that the most familiar 'cat-call' from a man to a woman is pssssssssstt. I heard this a lot in Ghana, but this time it was a cultural retention in reverse.

Instead of one long 'hiss', it was usually broken into 2 or 3 crisp phrases. The thing that really took me aback is that it has no demeaning connotation there. In fact, it's just a common gesture to get another person's attention. I even observed men doing that to other men... with no backlash. I think that was one of my few genuine doses of "culture shock" because here, it's almost guaranteed that once you hear pssssssst it's followed by "aaay sweeeet ting!" or something of similar effect.