Saving face worldwide

I was leaving my house this morning when I heard the telltale shift of boubou fabric approaching me from behind. As a young, white moor man passed me, his sandal caught on a tin can half buried in the dirt. He broke into a light jog, his body language asserting, “no, I didn’t trip; I meant to change my pace at exactly the moment when I should have stumbled.” It’s comforting to know that certain human coping mechanisms are universal.