captainflash:
How they go take kiss ni?


That means the man waist go bent


or

holyokoto:
The Police woman na YOLOBA

Seunaj05:
Freedom.. Freedom.. Freedom.. Freedom is killing the world. freedom of this freedom of that. Freedom of jump... Freedom of dance. Total ban of Hijab in the north seems to be the only thing dat would curb the use of this in TOO young, vulnerable gals for the act of terrorism

major466:
Jehovah witness for example do not believe that Jesus Christ is GOD. To them Jesus Christ is a created being just like arch Angel Micheal. This belief is contrary to John1:1.

Michellla:
oh well.
I honestly can't date a short guy.
There's this kind of protection you feel while walking with a tall guy
which a short guy can't provide.

Flets:
Not a problem. Key problem now is nnamdi kanu.

Buhari's misplaced priorities

SmartMugu:

Why? Nnamdi Kanu has never been violent in his campaign and stands to be heard in a peaceful manner. BH doesn't want to be heard at all and are extremely violent. So, why do u think they're not a problem?

Still wondering why Yorubas in Benin are not added to Yorubas in Nigeria's population. We're almost alike.

This is a Yoruba from Benin, no difference from ones in Nigeria; same dance steps too. Well a lil accent in the Yoruba there.

Some say Yorubas in Benin are the authentic Yorubas

Yoruba woman from Benin

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPY2IO-uQ2o?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

odumchi:

Yoruba:
The Yorubas, like their Hausa counterparts, also had strong communal traditions. Much of Yorubaland has been united twice, first under the Yoruba kings of Ife and Oyo and twice under the Binis. The Yorubas had minor trading cities but trade did not play as much importance in its culture as it did to the other two. With the empire secure, and all Yoruba speakers united under one ruler, the people were free to multiply and expand, and with the arrival of Islam, polygamy spread much further allowing for a large population boom.

mrkels:
Most likely an embittered ex.

They should arrest him, he killed her.

nbright:
They are now back in Niger state?. Jesus Christ

chukwudi44:
Small small truth don begin come out.These same idiots sabotaged the war during GEJ's reign by leaking information to boko haram

ideynl1:
It's Yoloba again!

SW needs cleansing I swear. Every day one ritual, cannibalism, rape and other vices.

Na wa o

Balkan:
I rather take risk with my own life to make money
than butcher someone or take his life for money rituals

Not in our character
proudly Igbo

Bobbystanley:
Na them


My fellow name Checkers come and see ooo

Its still the same set of people

That tribe + Ritual +Cannibalism =Bread and Butter

An Igbo man would rather risk his own life to make money than to tamper with the lives of others.

I think I would go with that of an Igbo man.

Joc86:
Explosion should end in the north or extend little to the southwast I play.
May my people always see peace which they desire o' Lord. Save my people from agony of life and wicked.
RIP to the dead.
Fvck odudua!

QatarPlayboy:
I blame BADLUCK JONATHAN and WIKE for this. they both caused it.

quote me and die by ISIS sword

Richie0974:


Are conductors not human beings or you think you're better than all of them?

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™

onyedikachukwue:
They can't try this shit in Anambra. Fulani people are heartless, foolish people.
Derive joy from killing innocent people.

princdebola201:
After being released, her next destination is south west .
To continue her prostitute ministry

Mindfulness:
So the solution is to employ kids instead of sending them to school so that men are not tempted because they are weak polygamous by nature?

Toks2008:


i was actually trying to point out that 13 to 15 are still minors and only a beast of a husband will stoop low to this level and if you see a 13 yr old maid with fully developed sexual features you can always go for another one.

sapientia:
So maids still exist

Its simple.. Just ask ur husband to bring his blood relative to stay with una.. If he decides to commit incest.. Then.. Even if you had brough a 5 yr old little gal.. Him for defile am too..

So.. Let d househelp always be ur husband's blood relative

skytreader:
The Ooni's presence or absence will clear up speculations. Shebi his chiefs said he was gearing up for the prince's wedding?
Wish the new couple the best things of life...

Evathyst:
Where's Ooni?



Just asking silently!

delishpot:
Juju has nothing to do with this. That fish may just be naturaly poisonous.

jeffizy:
@slimyem..... I am directing it at the ladies not to be chauvinistic . Rather, i feel it is the ladies who can put a stop to these men's randiness .
The men are guilty too. But i beleive a thief that steals palm oil from the shelf needs someone to relieve him of his loot.

slimyem:

Fix and rephrase the question like that and stop being bigoted!
Why focus on the lady and not the man when in fact the man is the one who is supposed to be responsible and committed to his vows?
Both of them have non-justifiable reasons for being involved and both their immoral actions should be questioned here.That's fairness and sense!!

The man has a duty to respect the institution he is in by looking away even if the lady's butt is wriggled in is face and the lady has a duty to defend her virtues by saying NO if she has any.They are both guilty.Focus on them both!

Nonybb:
I am willing to pay the kidnappers handsomely if they are able to kidnap Dr Nwokolo and Mr Ben Obi of Industrial Chemistry department, including the loudmouthed Dr Iwu and the demonic Dr Onuigboje of that Department. I am using this medium to say "Hi" to Dr Ayuk and Proffessor Ejele. These are men with human conscience. Have Mr Chike gotten married yet? What about Dr Enenebeaku aka Enenebeukwu, I heard he's gay. Upto 45years and not yet married