uzolexis:


Our accent is not horrible too,it's the Nigerian accent. Every country has it's accent wc is unique 2 them.

I meant their fake foreign accents.

tuffgongjo:
Horrible accents?
Do you know you can't speak without "an accent"? American,British,Jamaican,etc are accents which you don't see as horrible right?

I meant their fake foreign accents.

Marc9:


U may as well hold ur TV and start twisting till the volume is down.

when it comes to TV or radio, u tune! U don't turn! U tune to a station, u tune the volume, u tune its menu, u tune! U don't turn!

U turn ur tap open, u turn ur table upside down! U don't turn down the volume of a TV set. U tune down!

The word tune means set! When u tune the volume, u set the volume down!

Was Patience Jonathan your English teacher?


Just keep quiet.

You apparently do not know what a knob is. You turn a knob. Most TVs and radios had volume knobs.....that is where "turn" the volume down came from.

Tune applies to frequency. You tune "into" and not "down"

christopher123:


That is My humble submission.

Considering your use of English, it is indeed a humble submission.

SaintRobs:
5.“Names withheld.” This expression rankles me to no end. It’s not only unprofessional and irresponsible journalism to habitually conceal the identity of the subjects you are writing about (as in, “a south-south governor in an oil-rich state [names withheld] is involved in a corruption scandal”); it’s also exasperatingly redundant to state that you have withheld the name of someone whose name you have not mentioned anyway! It is obvious to any reader that a name has been withheld if it’s not mentioned. But what is particularly irksome about this practice is that it is used even in reporting stories of crucial public importance.

If reporters and editors are not prepared to name names, even where it is legally and ethically safe to do so, why waste ink and space to opaquely hint at them? But the bad news for editors and reporters who practice this imbecilic and feeble-minded journalism is that, in media law, not directly mentioning the name of a person or an organization is not sufficient safeguard against legal liability. If a person or a company can prove that there is sufficient material basis for “right-thinking” members of the society to infer that they are the object of a libelous newspaper innuendo, the paper is in the soup.

6.“Electioneering campaign:” “Electioneering” and “political campaign” mean the same thing. So “electioneering campaign” is tautologous. It’s either electioneering or campaign.

7.“Our story is true in every material particular:” The phrase “in every material particular” is an archaic legal jargon. It is not used in everyday English in any native variety of the English language.

8.“Yesteryears:” This old-fashioned word, which is sometimes used for literary effects, has no plural in both the British and American varieties of Standard English. It remains “yesteryear” whether it’s in the singular or plural form. Another word that Nigerian newspapers—and by extension Nigerian speakers of the English language—pluralize against conventional practice is “slang.” The plural is often rendered as “slangs” in Nigeria. In Standard English, however, the plural form of slang does not take an “s”; it is often rendered as “slang expressions.”

9.“A free-for-all fight:” This tautologic expression is probably a consequence of the misrecognition of the part of speech of “free-for-all.” It is a noun, not an adjective, and cannot modify another noun. It means a brawl, a noisy fight in a crowd. So it is sufficient to simply write that there was a free-for-all without adding “fight.”

10. “Not unconnected with:” This expression is not grammatically wrong but is hopelessly hackneyed and pretentious. George Orwell once urged us to laugh the not un- formation out of existence by memorizing this sentence:“A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.

Source:http://www.farooqkperogi.com/2009/12/10-most-annoying-nigerian-media-english.html

Abeg tell them.

tobechi74:
We are not from england yet we find delight in over speaking english.

How many of us can write in our native language?

We are Nigerian and speak english. That is our language not some local dialect that does nothing but breed tribalism, ethnic divisions and every evil that has plagued this country. If I had my way tribe and all its associates will be expunged from the Constitution. We battle to keep the white man out as if we are united a home.

DjAndroid:


Is The language yours? If you must speak a language, speak like the owner of the language. You may not have the accent but the grammar/technicalities must be revered.

English is not made in Nigeria, so there is nothing like "this is Nigeria for you".

Speak English the way it should be spoken.

Tichar chike

Marc9:
This surely must be one of the most grammatically incorrect expressions.........

Presenter: hello caller

Caller: hello

Presenter: please, kindly turn down the volume of your Tv set

When the correct expression is tune down the volume...

You my friend are very wrong. The correct expression is "turn down" and not "tune down" as you suggest, You can only turn volume up or down. You have just displayed a classic case of Nigerian English. Tuning has to do with tone like bass,treble,clarity etc and not loudness or volume.

frankyychiji:
I have noticed some of these things myself. Nice job for the enlightenment Op. Kudos!

I suspect 'kudos' is one of them. What the heck is that. Very irritating.

I find this very educative. The same mistakes are passed on and so many believe them to be correct...including those in the media who should know better. If we are in a position where formal English is required then we should not be using these phrases . Unknown to you....using one of these can ruin your chance for a great job
especially in a multi national company.
BREAKING NEWS!! BANK MANAGER SHOT DEAD. A well known bank manager (name withheld for privacy reasons) was shot dead in the lobby of his bank (name withheld) yesterday afternoon. A police source (name withheld because be was not authorised to speak on the matter) said the tall light skinned 48 year old manager who wore silver framed designer glasses and was featured on page 5 of the most recent issue of Genevieve magazine had just stepped out of his silver gray Range Rover Sports and entered the bank when a gunman (posing as a customer) fatally shot him once in the chest. He was rushed from the popular bank beginning with the letter S next to Dominoes Pizza in Festac and taken to a private hospital where his body was deposited. His wife, Neoma Johnson popularly known as Miss J who is a TV presenter on .......let me shut up!

...

fr3do:
Nonsense! Do you expect us to speak english exactly like the british? This is Nigeria and thats Nigerian english for you.
I expected you to criticize their horrible foreign accents.

If i read well, the writer is talking about journalists and media practitioners, not everyday Nigerians, of course the journalists should speak correct British English since that's our official Ligua Franca, it goes with the professionalism of the job, you can be cut some slack if you're not a journalist and make the mistakes.

Kudos to the Op, he sabi English well

fr3do:
Nonsense! Do you expect us to speak english exactly like the british? This is Nigeria and thats Nigerian english for you.
I expected you to criticize their horrible foreign accents.

My dear I support u. They colonised us and forced d language on us yet they still criticise us. Cameroon they speak french yet they call it pidgin french. Lolz. Shun whitemen

fr3do:


the sole purpose for language is communication, Nigerians are communicating intelligently and unamibigously, that's what matters.
your logic of saying that since it is a borrowed language, it shouldnt be suited to us is like buying a house that you can't make changes to.
Americans have so much modded the English but you dont see any american screaming about falling back to some invisible british guideline for speaking english.
Even in britian itself, they are different sorts of englishes, all considered correct.

You won't get a formal job in England if you go for an interview and say," wahgwan blud, Wass gwaning today, just came to get a job init"

kandiikane:


You won't get a formal job in England if you go for an interview and say," wahgwan blud, Wass gwaning today, just came to to get a job init"

Only job u'll be getting with such language is "being jobless"

jojomario:
I cant kill myself because of another mans tongue. can oyinbo man speak yoruba?.anyways, good job.

Okay. No problem. Stop communicating in english (reading, writing or speaking) and see how it goes. By the end of the week you'd either be in prison, an asylum or in intensive care.

I dont understand what you meant by saying "deposit" means putting something firmly in a place and went on to give "deposit the suitcase on the bench" as an example.from the little i know, the word "firm" as to do with a force keeping something to a point. The force i.e the weight of the suitcase makes it stay on the bench without extenal force application.this means that if an external force act on the case then it changes position because it is not placed firmly on the bench. To place it firmly on the bench, you have to either tie or screw the case to the bench.

Largas:

I am ashamed of reading the points a glorified 'Grammarian" is putting forward. You mentioned about culture and I was quick to remind you that other English speaking countries like US, Australia, Canada, NZ, etc stuck to English because they've no other viable language to fall on. In our case, if you have to present language as a culture why don't we go back to what we speak and write in, before the colonial years.

its like you dont know what culture is! Culture is the way of life of a people, it isnt the way people lived, it is the way people live in the present. not only is culture dynamic, it is also learned, so a people can learn culture (atleast parts of it) from another, so, english is Nigerian culture because it is the way we communicate now. [/quote]

Do you mean we should invent our own Nigerian English? Why would we when we have got Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa?

yes! why shouldnt we?
Having native languages is even more reason we should reinvent english.

Mate, stop defending those semi-literate journalists or are you one of them Change is one thing constant in this world and when English evolves, all English speaking countries should adapt, when they lag-behind, they would rather appear ill-informed. Don't tell me we should invent our English or stick to the blunders we yell everyday when change is constant, if English is much of a problem to you, swerve to Igbo or Yoruba whichever is easiest for you to escape blunders in.

how do you mean that when english evolves, everyone follows suit? When America formed american english, did britian adopt it?
And English only left britian for other countries after the 17th century reaching Naija 100 years ago, there has not been enough time for serious change as it happened during the medieval times.
What you call 'blunders' are not blunders because they are generally spoken and accepted, they are now Nigerian variations in English.

AllNaijaBlogger:



Another example of "oversabi" and "smartass" gramarian grammar Nazi.



"tune down" is actually logically inconsistent.


You "tune" to a station but you don't "tune" down the volume. Tune applies to frequency and not volume


It actually makes more sense to "turn" the volume down. One actually has to "turn" the volume knob down to reduce the volume

Ouch!!! ....may my airbag never deploy accidentally.

ellalina:
In a related development

this phrase is grammatically correct but the error is in it usage.
the word development is generically a positive word so you cannot use it to explain something negative.

eg you can't say : 3 students were shot dead during a protest.in a related development, 5 student were also killed during a political rally.
you can not also say developing a cancer or brain tumor etc. instead why don't you just say similar event etc

2: BUT CANNOT BE FOLLOWED WITH A POSITIVE STATEMENT .

but signifies negativity or something opposite of a pleasant experience.

e.g they were involved in a ghastly motor accident but they are fine.
a correct expression would be.

they survived the accident but they they sustained injuries.

pls note that this is just my opinion and understanding

In my opinion, 'but' can be followed by either positive or negative events. The safety precaution is to avoid using but as a conjunction for two events of the same tone: it must between a negative event and a positive event in no definite order.

fr3do:


I meant their fake foreign accents.

If it is that I have to concur with you all the way.

Nice post. Tnx

fr3do:



how do you mean that when english evolves, everyone follows suit? When America formed american english, did britian adopt it?
And English only left britian for other countries after the 17th century reaching Naija 100 years ago, there has not been enough time for serious change as it happened during the medieval times.
What you call 'blunders' are not blunders because they are generally spoken and accepted, they are now Nigerian variations in English.

Fredo, don't mind all these grammar nazis.

Some of them haven't even been to the UK or USA but they will be claiming what they don't know.

You can imagine the joker claiming that we should change the same way American English changes.

What he doesn't know is that Nigerian English is also new English. American English existed before 1960.

Furthermore, English changes in different countries differently.

"Isn't it" in slang form in UK is "innit"
"isn't it" in slang form in USA is "aint it"

radiance26:
Centuries to came,we are still imitating english language wrongly,cos its not ours.We need to encourage ourselves by appreciating our own languages.I know an igbo girl who understands her language very well,but so ashamed to speak the language outside.Its a shame to us,we are loosing our own languages.

Hmmm. 'Centuries to came...'. Okay oh.

Another is VANDALISATION, nothing like this in the dictionary but everytime i see and hear this word on OGTV

Slangs exist

fapcrook:
Another is VANDALISATION, nothing like this in the dictionary but everytime i see and hear this word on OGTV

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vandalisation
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vandalisation



GO AND BUY A DICTIONARY THAT WAS WRITTEN IN THIS DECADE.

tolugar:
What about

"Perpetrators will be brought to book"

Dat one na police grammer. De one wey I like na "We apprehended the hoodlums".

AllNaijaBlogger:


They just want to feel good that they can speak English

I blame Nigerian secondary schools for not teaching many Nigerian languages seriously. I would have had A1 in Itsekiri and not F9 in Yoruba

And what profit is there in an Itsekiri language distinction. An itsekiri only blog. Pally the world is consolidating languages and cultures around superpowers. You are swimming against the tide.

The not Un- tag just kills me. Usually reading something like IT IS NOT IMMORAL.. i remove the not and prefix im read IT IS MORAL