Translating or interpreting some Yoruba
words to English literarily could be funny.
This arguably contributed to some of the
errors we make speaking correct English
grammar. Coupled with the fact that
Yoruba is a Tonal language (which means
the way you pronounce a word determines
its meaning), it does not have special
pronoun for male and female as English
language does.
Enough of the story let’s get down to
business.
Let’s laugh it out.

Wa maa lo – Come and be going
This is used when you are asking
somebody to leave. Example: “Ile ti n su,
tete wa maa lo” which means “Start to
leave for it’s getting dark”.

Mo n bo – I’m coming.
This is to really mean “I’ll be back”.

Isu ata yan-an yan-an – Yam pepper
scatter scatter
This is a Yoruba phrase that is used to
describe a situation out of control,
especially riot or fight which has escalated
beyond normal.

Eefejoku – You’ll almost die dancing or
You’ll almost die burning.
I’m sure Nigerian hip hop lovers would be
familiar with this one. Anytime
“ku” (which means die) is used to complete
a word or phrase, it’s used to emphasize or
exaggerate the extent to which something
would be done or has been done. Example:
“Wale ti fee jeun ku” which means “Wale
has been eating a lot”.

Okunrin meta ataabo – Three and a half
man.
This originally means ‘strong man”. It’s a
Yoruba adjectival phrase used to describe
a strong or hard working man, this is to
mean he’s man three times and half a
normal man.

Ijekuje – Eat die eat
This simply means “junks” or something
not profitable to your body.

Alapata – He who kill and sell
This simply means a “butcher”.

Amunututu – Makes belly cold
This is a type of water leave used as
vegetable especially to support
“egunsi” (mellon)

Oka’re – You plucked right
This simply means “Well done”

Ekaaro – Die morning
Ekaasan – Die afternoon
Ekuurole – Die evening
Ekaale – Die night.
All this are simply time greetings which
means “good morning”, “good afternoon”
and “good evening” consecutively (note:
“ekaale” also means “good evening”)

Odaaro – Till morrow morning
This simply means “good night”

Olosa – Sea owner
This means “harm robber” while “thief”
translate “ole”.

Maa sanjo – I will pay day
This simply means “I’ll repay your
investments on me”, usually from children
to parents or among folks.

Mi o le wa lo ku – I cannot come and go
and die.
This is used when one is tired of doing
something especially when it is drudgery
or stressful in nature.

Owo olowo – Rich person’s money
This really means “it’s not my money” or
“it’s somebody else’s money”

Panapana – Kill fire kill fire
Simply means “Fire fighter”

Omi ero – Engine water
“Omi ero” means “Tap water”.

Olopa – Stick owner
“Olopa” means “Police” or “Cop”. They are
called “olopa”(stick owner) because they
are usually found with sticks in those time,
if it were to be now they’ll be called
“Onibon” i.e “gun owner” because they’ve
long drop sticks for guns.

There you have it and you can add your
own. I would have loved to add
“amin” (intonation signs) on each Yoruba
word for proper comprehension but my
keyboard lacks such luxury.
NB: Grammatical corrections are highly
welcome as I am not a good grammarian.

Source : self
https://babsopey./

I can't just begin to imagine that nobody has ever commented on this interesting topic