OP, nice writeup!

You should have included "on a platter of gold" instead of "on a silver platter" and "knowing FULLY well" instead of "knowing full well".

abimic:

Did u just aforementioned that property has no plural? Please, before making frivolous assertions on a platform like this, it's best we make genuine and informed research as this is an educative platform. Property to the best of my knowledge has a plural and it's PROPERTIES! , this you can confirm from a kid! PERIOD!

Do you have a dictionary there with you? or you should google search that word. Can you please use the word in a sentence? I mean no offence.

freedom96:
Hmm....in mama piss's voice..."Op na only you Waka come?"In ur seventh analysis,u used hair instead of hear,wassup?

heard not hear.
Wassuppppp!

Wow! One of the best article I have ever read on nairaland.. So innovative.

princechrming:
I'm no grammar purist but over the years, my avidity for words and lexical profundity had ignited a proclivity for grammar correctness in me. These words/idioms which I will be talking about have been erroneously used even on national media platforms and among the average educated Nigerian who uses/interprets such words wrongly countless times.

Some of these lexical misinterpretation are egregious grammatical blunders, some are a case of solecism and I could call some a case of neologism. But why such neologism can't be accepted is because "Nigerian English" has yet to be upgraded to ranks of other recognised versions and dialects of English like American, British, Australian or New Zealand English.

I know English language isn't out mother tongue but for the fact that its the most recognised language in the world and also our lingua franca we ought to speak and interpret it correctly. I remember back then as a fresh graduate done with my compulsory one year national service (NYSC), I went for an interview and unconsciously educated my interviewers about a word. During the interview I kept on pronouncing the word "debt" in its correct pronunciation of /dɛt/ and the "b" being totally silent which sounds like how we Nigerians erroneously pronounce the word "death" directly as "det" rather than /dɛθ/, the Human Resources Manager - Dr. Sylvester stopped me at some point to express his confusion at me and inquired why I was using the word "death" in my speech. I then said- "Oh, sorry sir, I meant D-E-B-T (spelling it out verbally) but the "b" is totally silent in its correct pronunciation, we Nigerians pronounce it wrongly most times voicing out the "b" in that word".
He felt quite embarrassed and he asked the next interviewer to continue with me and I saw him put his face down looking into his laptop, most definitely trying to confirm my claim by referring to his Encarta Dictionary on his laptop. Well, I still got the job and Dr. Sylvester told me later on that apart from other factors, he approved me for the job because of my ability to educate him on a word which he was totally oblivious to despite his decades of erudition.

In order not to bore you guys with more prolegomenon, I'd dive straight into the matter at hand, find below 12 of these words/idioms we use or interpret wrongly.



1. Yesteryears - This word has no plural form. Its always used as "yesteryear" be it in singular or plural form. I'm sure this error came about because of the word "nowadays" which is antithetical to "yesteryear". I have an uncle who back then would always castigate us by saying- "All these children of nowadays, if you all were to use our school curriculum of 'yesteryears' you all would fail". He is so lucky I didn't know what I know now back then, I would have corrected him immediately!
A correct example of its use is; "Songs of 'yesteryear' are better lyrically than songs of nowadays"


2. Chanced - Countless times, I hear things like- "I won't be chanced to see you later on this evening", and the interlocutor meant he/she will not be free to see me in the evening, meaning he would be busy or occupied. That's wrong grammar! The word "chance" or chanced" as a verb has two meanings, namely;
1- "to risk", for example- "I'll chance the worst happening",
2- "to happen by chance", for example- "I chanced to catch sight of her as she passed.
So desist from using "chanced" to refer to being "not busy" or "free". Instead you can say "I don't have free time in the evening for us to meet" or "I can't see you in the evening because I don't have time to spare" or simply say "I'll be busy in the evening, so we can't meet"


3. Lousy - "Jane is such a lousy girl, she talks too much like a running tap!" Have you ever heard a derogatory statement like that before? I'm sure you have. The word "lousy" here is mostly misinterpreted by Nigerians to mean "talkative and noisy" or "loud and arrogant in talking". We tend to relate the word "lousy" to "loud".

Lousy simple means "unpleasant, "inferior or bad" or "provided with an excess amount (of)".
Examples of correct use include: "That's a lousy thing to do", "This is a lousy film, its production is too poor", "He's lousy with money."


4. "Sendforth" instead of "Sendoff" - I'm sure you have seen a lot of invitations for "sendforth" parties in the past. Well, there is no word as "sendforth" in the dictionary. The correct word is "sendoff" which is "a demonstration of good wishes to a person about to set off on a journey, career, etc"


5. Severally Nigerians misinterpret and wrongly use this word to mean "several times" or "a lot of times". You would hear someone say- "Rita has warned her severally but she won't listen". That's very wrong!
The word "severally" is an adverb which means "separately", " individually" or "distinctly".
A correct use can be- "Please after you wash the clothes, spread them severally on the rope", which implies you want the clothes to be dried individually on the rope.


6. Birds of the same feathers flock together - This is a very popular idiomatic blunder used by Nigerians. The correct idiom is "Birds of A FEATHER flock together" and not "Birds of THE SAME FEATHERS flock together"


7. Opportune(d) - You'd hair someone say something like "I wasn't opportuned to be born with a silver spoon" to refer to the fact that he didn't "have the opportunity" or "privilege" to be born into wealth. That's utterly erroneous! Because, "opportune" means "occurring at a time that is suitable or well-timed".
A correct example of its use: "she has been waiting for the opportune moment to tell him she wants a break up." Here is another correct example: "I'm waiting for the opportune moment to propose to my darling Rita"


8. Impeach - In Nigeria, you'd hear statements like this- "The president must be impeached whether he likes it or not!". And what they mean is that the president should be removed from office.
Politically, "impeach" means "to charge a public official with an offence committed in office" It doesn't ultimately mean removing the official from office, just as being charge to court for an alleged offence doesn't guarantee the defendant would be jailed as a result.
For example, if an average Nigerian hears the statement- "President Bill Clinton of the USA was impeached in 1998", he/she would interpret it that Bill Clinton was removed from office. But that's not the case, Bill Clinton was impeached but wasn't removed from office, he served his full presidential term, impeachment here meant he was charged to court for an alleged offence of purgery (which was related to alleged sexual relations with a white house staff) but he was later acquitted and proven innocent, and he went on to complete his full presidential tenure.
So, the word "impeach" doesn't ultimately mean to remove a politician from office.


9. "Stay clear" instead of "Steer clear" - This idiomatic plunder doesn't need much explanation. Its an error of using "stay" instead of "steer", maybe because both words are closely related in pronunciation. Please mind this error in your oral and written English.
So next time you wanna sternly warn that boss at work flirting with your office girlfriend, tell him- "Hey Mr. Managing Director, you better 'steer' clear of Rita my girlfriend or else...". (Please do it at your own risk o! Your sack letter might just be his reply to you)


10. Sentiment - During arguments, its common to hear things like- "Don't bring in sentiments into this, let's be truthful and factual" or "Can we just be objective in this country and cast sentiments aside?"
The average Nigeria interprets the word "sentiment" to mean "being bias", exhibiting prejudice or the opposite of objectivity. Quite wrong!
Below are meanings of the word sentiment:
1- "an opinion or thought"
2- "prone to tender, delicate or romantic emotion"
3- "a feeling, emotion or awareness"
4- "fake or excessive show of emotion"
Below are examples of correct use of the word "sentiment":
- "My sentiment(my opinion) concerning this issue is that we wait to see what happens first before we take any action.
- "She has too much sentiment to be successful in this industry, it will not favour her. (Meaning she is too soft or fragile emotionally to cope in such an industry)
- "A sentiment of pity" (Meaning a feeling or emotion of pity)
- "She went sentimental and started crying immediately I told her I was breaking up with her when I caught her cheating"

That said, let's stop using the word "sentiment" to represent "bias" or "prejudice", instead, you can say- "Please put aside all prejudice or bias so we can analyse this issue thoroughly" or just say- "Do away with your subjective views and try to be objective for once"


10. Instalmentally - We Nigerians invented this word from the word "instalment" to mean something divided for payment at specified intervals over a fixed period. But there is no adverb like this in the dictionary. Instead of saying "I will pay you instalmentally" rather say "I will pay you in instalments"


11. Go-slow - Nigerian use this word to refer to a traffic jam, but the word "Go-slow" or "Slowdown" for US English refers to "an occasion when employees work more slowly and with less effort than usual to try to make an employer to agree to pay them higher wages or give them better working conditions". So next time say "I'm in a traffic jam" rather than say "I'm in a go-slow"


12. Barb - I'm sure when an average Nigerian man wants to go cut his hair, he would say- "I want to barb my hair" right?
The word "barb" is a multifarious word but NONE of its meanings has anything to do with the act of cutting/trimming hair.
The word "barber" is a noun used to refer to someone whose business is cutting men's hair and shaving or trimming beads, but also, the word "barber" is a verb as well which means "to cut the hair of" or "to shave or trim the beard of".
For example, you can say- "Can you barber me now?" (Meaning: "can you cut/trim my hair now?" Another example is- "I want to barber my hair". Sounds funny right? Yes it does but its correct grammar.


Note - This article is in no way trying to ridicule or pillory Nigerians as a result our lexical inadequacies but to help further enlighten one another's word base and understanding.

Happy first of September Nigeria! I wish us all a fruitful and safe last quarter of the year!



This article is an intellectual property of the author, no part of this article may be published, copied, transmitted/transferred electronically or in print without the express permission of the author whose online pseudonym/trademark is "Prince Charming"
Contact - pryncecharming001@gmail.com
Copyright © 2015 Prince Charming™

how does this one provide us with 10 GW

OP, there's something called Nigerian English and most of these words are part of it.

arnoldwilliamz:
OP, there's something called Nigerian English and most of these words are part of it.

There is no such language called Nigerian English. Just accept that Nigerians often use or pronounce English words incorrectly. Making excuses for it is not the answer.....just accept and correct the mistakes.

Your statement in No.7 "You'd hair someone say something like" has an error. It should be "You'd hear someone say something like ".
I want to believe is a typographical error.

Very educating...

I've never really know Nigerians to use the word 'sentiment' wrongly though.

Many nigerians give their opinions or judgements based on emotions or feelings. That is being sentimental, yes?

Hawlahscho:
Now I'm scared to comment because this genius princechrming can bring out error @any time



Many people will not believe that I've not seen/heard that number one before.
This is my first time of sighting it, I simple use "back-then" as its replacement.



I'm guilty of these numbers; 2, 3, 7 and 12.
Thanks very much OP, God will increase you "Wisdomically"



OP, don't lie o, is this not a tautology


Tautology means unnecessary repetition.

It's either you say

...you better 'steer' clear of Rita my girlfriend OR I deal with you.

or you use

you better 'steer' clear of Rita my girlfriend ELSE, I deal with you.

Nobody is above mistake sha

Wow, even our Mr know all don fall hand I was so carried away by his knowledge that I didn't know even notice

your numbering is wrong......but we can help but use dis words NSTALMENTALLY and SENTIMENT.

This is a good post. I can see that you are into sociolinguistics with a bias for Nigerian English. However, I would like you to consult other dictionaries on "impeach" and "sentiment". I assumed you consulted the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary but you can check some equally good dictionaries e.g. Chambers. "Impeach" as removing from office is not wrong. "Sentiment" can be positive or negative, and if negative, seeing it as being biased is correct. I want you to make further consultations and get back to us. And as for Nigerian English, the problem we have about it is standardisation; and when we talk about standardising the Nigerian Variety of English (which obviously exists) which framework should we employ? Banjo 1967, Bamgbose 1971, Adetugbo 1979, Odumuh 1987, among many others. If sociolinguists in Nigeria can actually work something out, then we would no longer move toward a particular 'super variety of the English language' but towards International English which is currently in vogue. (You can read the works of David Crystal on the Theory of English Neutrality and Sydney Greenbaum and B. Seildhofer on International English and International Corpus of English).

One again, good work.

arnoldwilliamz:
OP, there's something called Nigerian English and most of these words are part of it.

Not all my bro.

We learn everyday. The more we live the more we learn.

'Installmentally'

Thanks op, however in ur no 8 above, you are VERY correct cos that was the usage in the constitution(removal) but u erred while relating it to Nigeria, because in Nigeria,public officials are immuned from criminal trials, hence any impeachment resorts to removal. You have impeachment procedures ehich may nit resort to removal but impeachment colloquially is removal in POLITICAL parlance of Nigeria

when the anti-bomb squad prevent a bomb from going off, the media houses will say a bomb was detonated instead of defused

princechrming:
I'm no grammar purist but over the years, my avidity for words and lexical profundity had ignited a proclivity for grammar correctness in me. These words/idioms which I will be talking about have been erroneously used even on national media platforms and among the average educated Nigerian who uses/interprets such words wrongly countless times.

...................................................................

7. Opportune(d) - You'd [size=8pt]hair[/size] someone say something like "I wasn't opportuned to be born with a silver spoon" to refer to the fact that he didn't "have the opportunity" or "privilege" to be born into wealth. That's utterly erroneous! Because, "opportune" means "occurring at a time that is suitable or well-timed".
A correct example of its use: "she has been waiting for the opportune moment to tell him she wants a break up." Here is another correct example: "I'm waiting for the opportune moment to propose to my darling Rita"
....................................................................

This article is an intellectual property of the author, no part of this article may be published, copied, transmitted/transferred electronically or in print without the express permission of the author whose online pseudonym/trademark is "Prince Charming"
Contact - pryncecharming001@gmail.com
Copyright © 2015 Prince Charming™

All well said and noticed.

But you won't doubt that many are times that even the correcter needs correction!

Take note of the "HAIR" above, should be "HEAR"

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks a lot op.....but i believed yesteryears is the plural form of yesteryear & sentiment could also means opinions made not based on reasoning or judgement. Look it up op & let us know.

Good grammar is desirable and anticipated of educated citizens.

Sentiment apart,it could mean,put aways emotions(such as anger,hatred) and let's face reality,so to mean,that is correct.Apart from that,I agree with most of them

ifeoluwasegun:


All well said and noticed.

But you won't doubt that many are times that even the correcter needs correction!

Take note of the "HAIR" above,should be HEAR


Thanks for sharing!

for CHRIST sake it is MANY A TIME not MANY ARE TIMES
Take note of the "HAIR" above, should be HEARD $ not HEAR

londoner:


There is no such language called Nigerian English. Just accept that Nigerians often use or pronounce English words incorrectly. Making excuses for it is not the answer.....just accept and correct the mistakes.

there is something called Nigerian English and I did it back then in school. ENG408 is the course code. What will you make of the likes of Soyinka using words like 'Wahalarism'?

arnoldwilliamz:
there is something called Nigerian English and I did it back then in school. ENG408 is the course code. What will you make of the likes of Soyinka using words like 'Wahalarism'?

The fact that there are colloquial words does not make them part of the English language. There are words that are simply slang and really the op is pointing out ACTUAL English words and terms that are either used or pronounced incorrectly.

Being hard headed about it is the wrong way to deal with this exposure by the op in my opinion. The fact that people were not taught correct English at school is the culprit and it has caused a generation that do not even know when they are making a mistake which may be so glaring to others.

SethJr:



for CHRIST sake it is MANY A TIME not MANY ARE TIMES
Take note of the "HAIR" above, should be HEARD $ not HEAR

Thanks for your notice.

But I humbly disagree with you as regards the "HEAR" "HEARD" point. You would do a great help if you can complete the sentence in full without apostrophe. "You'd".

ifeoluwasegun:


Thanks for your notice.

But I humbly disagree with you as regards the "HEAR" "HEARD" point. You would do a great help if you can complete the sentence in full without apostrophe. "You'd".

Ok! Ur right

ifeoluwasegun:


Thanks for your notice.

But I humbly disagree with you as regards the "HEAR" "HEARD" point. You would do a great help if you can complete the sentence in full without apostrophe. "You'd".

Ok! Ur right, took it to be "You've"

princechrming:

9. "Stay clear" instead of "Steer clear" - This idiomatic plunder doesn't need much explanation. It's an error of using "stay" instead of "steer", maybe because both words are closely related in pronunciation.

I appreciate your commendable efforts, however, I must say you are in the wrong here. I recommend you remove point 9 because both Steer clear and Stay clear are equally OK. They are alternatives. Another correct alternative is Keep clear.

Please confirm from online Macmillian dictionary at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/keep-stay-steer-clear-of or use a physical dictionary.

Thanks.

Nice.

Marleek:
Do you have a dictionary there with you? or you should google search that word. Can you please use the word in a sentence? I mean no offence.

Just as u mean no harm, i likewise meant none too. If you are a science student, check your textbooks for properties of some compounds. That aside, I've attended conferences in Oil & Gas where respective speakers when we consider the different states of our God given natural resources......, or can u say no plural for resource? I can't believe we are over flogging this. Check a dictionary, u surely will come by properties is the plural for property. This I've come by for the umpteenth time and I'm tired of coming by it. Some words are best fit when used in plural. Media outlets are one of the many ways to grow one's vocabulary exposure until recently where some flop. I'm an Engineer and not too much an in depth arbiter in English, but grounded in those I know and I can't be short changed In them. Moreover, everyday we learn to become better.

Hey bro abimic! That was kinda impressive, although i dont agree with you. Those dictionaries can be misleading sometimes. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, properties is the plural of property right? So why didnt they use "properties" as an example or can you navigate down a bit and take another screenshot? Who knows maybe you dont want us to see all the examples. Check any dictionary, they may tell you properties is the plural of property but trust me, they can never use properties as an example even when you think its supposed to be used. You might as well check this link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/property

Marleek:
Hey bro abimic! That was kinda impressive, although i dont agree with you. Those dictionaries can be misleading sometimes. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, properties is the plural of property right? So why didnt they use "properties" as an example or can you navigate down a bit and take another screenshot? Who knows maybe you dont want us to see all the examples. Check any dictionary, they may tell you properties is the plural of property but trust me, they can never use properties as an example even when you think its supposed to be used. You might as well check this link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/property

Hello friend, I only can just hope this last pic will clear your doubts. Even without the pic, I remember being taught then in kindergarten, that the plural of property is properties. Instances could be in, landed and mobile properties. Anyway, hope this new pic will calm frayed and doubtful nerves.