When someone has something you want, or you want to benefit from them, chances are you’ll be ‘nice-nice’ to them. Think about a guy trying to bang a chick – even if he’s an otherwise arrogant douche-bag, he’ll act sweet, in order to squirm his way into her panties. Boot licking is the trade of many, an old age trick that has been mastered in our dear land of flora and fauna - for who and what do you think you are, if you can’t beg and bow down to the power hungry, narcissist, egocentrics, huh?!
You probably have memories of boot lickers from your school days – yes, the teacher’s pet. Tse ne di phapha blind! They would wipe the green board without being asked, volunteer to carry out errands and have their hands flying in the air to answer questions even before the teacher had completed the sentence! Because of their suck up tendencies, they were often selected to write down names of noise makers whenever the teacher stepped out of the classroom. They acted like impimpi (informants) and gave updates of fellow learners’ misdeeds. Their big mouths often got other children into hot water!
