₦airaland Forum

SaintRobs:
10 Most Annoying Nigerian Media English Expressions
By Farooq A. Kperogi

Contemporary Nigerian media English, for the most part, derives from a fetid repertoire of aggravatingly stereotyped and error-ridden phraseology. I have isolated 10 recurrent ones that particularly grate on my nerves.

While some of the expressions I have highlighted below are outright grammatically incorrect, others are grammatically correct but either laughably outdated or hopelessly clichéd. Either way, they all need to be dumped like “the verbal refuse” that they are. The numbering of the expressions is entirely arbitrary; it doesn’t indicate a hierarchical ordering of their egregiousness.

1.“Remains deposited at the mortuary.” This is almost the standard expression in Nigerian media English to say that a dead body has been delivered at the mortuary. There are two problems with this expression. First, the word “remains” is too formal for a news story. “Corpse” and “dead body” are the more usual words. And “deposit” is a singularly quaint verb to associate with death, especially in popular usage.

There are three principal senses of the word “deposit” in conversational English. The first and most popular is to put money or other valuables in a bank account. The second sense is to put, fix, force or implant something, as in “deposit a bullet in the table.” And the third sense is to situate something, that is, to put something somewhere firmly, as in “deposit the suitcase on the bench.” It’s unclear how this expression sprang in Nigerian media English, but it makes me sick to my stomach.

2.“Hear him,” or “in his words:” These are not strictly grammatically incorrect expressions; they are just ugly, inappropriate and superfluous verbiages. The convention in journalistic writing globally is to quote a source and acknowledge attribution by writing “(s)he said” at the end of a sentence. Example: “I hope Yar’adua lives long enough to save us from a potentially destructive constitutional crisis,” he said.

Now, when Nigerian newspaper journalists write “hear him,” they are not only being superfluous; they are also being unfaithful to the medium in which they write. We don’t literally “hear” people in print; we read them. And to write “in his words” while at the same time inserting quotation marks to those words is redundant. It is precisely because you’re quoting your source “in his words” that the sentence is in quotation marks. It’s, of course, appropriate to write “in his words” in broadcast scripts since they are meant to be read out.

3.“As at the time of filing this report:” Well, the correct expression, which is actually a fixed prepositional phrase, is “AS OF,” not “as at.” So, that sentence should read: “As of the time of filing this report.” This solecism has sadly percolated deep into the conventions of Nigerian English in general.

4.“Men of the underworld”: This expression has lost currency in other parts of the English-speaking world. But my gripe with it is that it’s a hackneyed, flyblown cliché that evinces the intellectual laziness of Nigerian journalists. Why not simply write “criminals”?


To be continued...

Seen it all attitude. Such irritating behavior.

dontjealousme1:
where is the confession part? U seriously like to sound forthright, produce the confession or it did not ...

This incident didn't occur today, am sure you recall that. Its in the dailies, look it up. Better still, I recommend linda ikeje blog, why would I make that up?.

tpia6:
speaking out is assumed to be done by the person who has been in an actual situation, not the person who sympathizes with the accuser?

If stephanie's husband is accused of rape, will she make a similar statement?

if something is a family matter, what behooves one person to issue a statement when the man bears the name of the whole family?

Like i said, she can clarify her position and cover her own self without being so specific.

She just called a spade a spade, tell it as it is. Moreover, the brother already confessed to the crime which he blamed on the devil. Some people are just naturally straight forward, even if her hobby was the one involved she would have acted in similar manner. Importantly, she is a celeb, with a foundation that advocates for rights of women at that. Who is in a better position to condemn this if not her. She has to do the job she signed up for by taking an out spoken stand on this, brother or not. She is under the microscope, everyone is watching. The expectation is that she kills whatever sentiment, otherwise she would be negatively labeled. So would you have found a means of taking sides if in her place with an act as horrific as this ??. She didn't put out this statement on behalf of her family, rather as a an advocate for the right of women who happened to be cut up in the middle. If you ask me, this is an appropriate reason to be be firm. Like the saying, lead by example. Just to pick up on your point that she put out a statement on-behalf of her family. I don't think I came across that part in her statement. Thanks.

babyosisi:
Most likely APC at work
Let's watch and see

In case you didn't think towards this direction, PDP may have staged this themselves for some reason best known to them.Every one is a suspect.

edozie04:
There are but probably not virgins,my opinion though

Did u just say no virgins? I hurt when I hear such. My aunt got married last year at 36, she was a very very very confirmed virgin. How did we all discover this? she wanted it to serve as a moral lesson to little girls in my family, so she made every one of us see for our selves. Her husband couldn't believe this. And she was not a very religious person in any meaningful way. No one would ever believe because she is very pretty, tall with very straight yam-less legs. She had lots of suitors, each time she would say each of of this suitors are not her husband and most of this suitors were well to do financially. She met her husband driving in a gulf car, little did she and every one of us know the guy is deadly rich with factories in Hong Kong and hold a PHD. We were already feeling sad for her, some of us said this poor guy, we are disappointed in aunt.It became apparent after engagement that the guy is not stinking rich but deadly rich.I still can't understand his point for driving in that gulf when he met my aunt, when he has all this cars. After their engagement, we discovered state of the art cars. The guy is 41 years old. Please there are still virgins out there.

eleojo23:
This is becoming funny to me. You're so quick at making conclusions. You think I've not got my priorities right? All I see here is you trying hard to force your ideology down my throat (with little success anyway). I take pleasure in writing down my thoughts and as for the bolded part of your statement, I'm already on it.. I have a reason for posting this here. Check my other topics and you'll see that I rarely talk on things like this.

You will be entirely happy and successful in your marriage. If most men share your understanding of marriage and love, I tell you what, couples would experience true bliss with or without wealth. Importantly, the act of divorce would be all gone. Good luck in life.

SirShymex:
Anyway, be more creative in ya thought process, and make it more about realism. Let chics deal with emotions and fantasies about imaginary husbands.

Black men grind and deal with real life. There are too many soft mofos out there these days with more female tendencies than females, hence the rapid increase in the number of homoerotic black men. Get a grip and find ya manhood, ya dig?

Am full of pity for you, I pray you make a good husband and experience a sincere happy home. Good luck with your mentality, you will need it.

Bode2:
na lie. You only pray to God to touch him

That is if such lady would be alive to say that prayer.

firstEVA:
gold digger how? Is it a dash? Just to use pending when I buy mine, whats so bad about that?

My dear am putting my self in your place and I would be very hurt by this myself. Am in a relationship, (with every sense of humility), my boyfriend is well to do. He use to insist I run my errands using one of his cars to which I always decline, because am perfectly fine catching the bus sometimes boarding cabs. We have had repeated issues resulting from my refusal to use his car. He is always citing that his younger siblings and cousins always use one of the cars why can't I. Less than three months back he offered me one of the cars to take home permanently but still his. I severely opposed to this,now the reasoning behind my behavior is this, I don't want him developing the impression he own me already. Instead he said my refusal resulted from my desire to meet other guys because driving in a car limits that possibility. I was hurt by his assumption to which he instantaneously apologized for. What am my getting at? maybe your boyfriend cares about you but not just enough, otherwise he would not be this selfish with his car, but I may be wrong about this. In a different sense, maybe he is naturally this way with his things. Am really sorry about your situation.

sammieguze:
1. Who is an helpmate?


*Someone Who helps you to accomplish your dreams, Who shares your laughter as Well as your tears.


I think it is Better and easier to find them When you really have nothin.
If she can wait to drink garri with you, stick with you When you are. nobody, believe me, you just found yourself a good manager and a real helpmate.




But if u wait till When you are swimming in money, Well... Sorry, you will Only meet girls Who Wanted to secure their future in you in order to fest on your dreams.
dig your gold


suck u dry



no wonder a lot of them end up being used for money ritual.


and some are so useless.... even money ritual, you no go fit take dem do let alone marry them.


Never underestimate the power of women

You sure have a valid point. However,citing experiences of older women, regrettably, has proven that most poor men tend to abandon their first wife the very moment they attain financial success or stability if u like. These are same women who had endured a significant state of poverty with these men and every thing is usually forgotten in a hurry by these men. Given all that, some girls now feel a need to settle for rich husbands rather than endure poverty with a man, in the end, then what?

Goanddie:
See grammar a beg!

I don't quite think that a person's ability to construct a grammatically correct sentence,is indication that such person is intellectually superior to others.

Naijarazzing:
some women are responsible for the men becoming animals...u no think so?

There is an alternative to violence. Now, only one conclusion can be drawn when a man decides to adopt violence. The conclusion is that the man is an animal.

iamodenigbo1:
na to buy and stock incase

But remember to look out for expiration date so it doesn't end up solidifying before you decide to utilize it.

donbenie:
You may be a million times richer than her as you claimed but nobody knows you..

Learn to mind your business,take this as an advice from an unknown friend.

I know most of our young politicians would end up worst than our old men in terms of looting.

[quote author=BarryX post=27638357][color=#006600]These are some of the few cats feeding off our electricity quagmire.

They end up smiling in Forbes newspaper.

It's well.

You are right, plus his late father was an ex-governor of Lagos state. I guess no money was made from governing Lagos and none was passed down to him by his governor father.

Here is photo of an information Minister, Jaja Wachukwu, sleeping, dreaming and perhaps snoring at the UN council meeting of October 14th, 1960. Nigeria government disappointing us since 1960.

chika40:
dat z y u will remain poooooooooooooooooor.....o ye ignorant fellow

Really

bobo65:
5 nigerian pastors in top 10 list

and the bible said, it is easier for a donkey to pass thru d eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven

im just watching from one angle

.

I wounder if these pastors ever came across this part of the bible and refused to take this word of advice. This is a demonstrates that they do not for a second believe in what they preach.

RedEboe:
[size=18pt]HURRAY! Now other struggling Blogs and real creative writers can shine![/size]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa now.

balogundayo: I don't really fancy them so called innocent virgins as i dont plan marrying one.. I like bad girls who's had experience in sex and relationships, girls who know the time to initiate romantic moments nd hw to do them...

I find them real appealing to me... We all have different thinking perspectives...
Why should i marry a virgin? They are boring, inexperienced nd dont have sexy attributes...

One man's meat is another man's poison
#nonvirginsrock!

But don't you think she could be thought and even become a pro for you? . I pray my older siblings find one because they are such a blessing to any man my dear, either you belief this or not.

YoungDaNaval: Why Won't They Keep Off? Our God Is Bigger Than Them. Ride On With The Good Work My Prophet!

Gosh, so so sorry.

I really want to be informed, so this comes with an innocent question. Please what exactly is the importance of big brother? by which I mean, what message are they trying to get across?

Am seriously terrified by this innovation.

Opiosko: Honestly i don't see any new idea here. Feminism should not be a man hating revenge mission...we have been shouting that since... No sex is greater or better than the other one but we have our natural predefined roles for both sex. Feminism is confused idea for confused people.

Did you say naturally predefined roles?? a huge no. These were roles constructed and made operational by the society and that in any sense doesn't come across as natural. Thanks.

LMAyedun: Story for the gods!

Hell yeah, also for the birds.

But why did OBJ do anything to improve the condition of the island during his tenure? like the governor is now requesting, since it is in Ogun state at that.

Hafyz23: No worry my dear Nairalanders.....The Island is under my watch day-in day-out.Gud morning b4 I forget.

I demand a 24 hours situation report.

We don't. By the way, it implies the lady is cool, in terms of her natural look. But when a lady is all dressed up like a LovePeddler and she gets attention then sad for her because she is only being ridiculed. That is a negative attention.

rokiatu: The true is that every woman loves attention, like my husband always says women will die without attention, infact they thrives on them..... but then again it just comes to a point where it becomes uncomfortable, not all attention is good attention thou, I remember once, I went shopping, there was so much attention on me, I almost fell because I was wearing this really high and all these men eyes were on me like I have committed a crime or there were poo on my butt, I almost fell flat on my face I swear it was dang uncomfortable. So women loves attantion but not all attention.

Your look must be breathtaking. Pics pleeeeesssssss.

I hope this story is true. But one thing I can't comprehend is this oby Ezekwesili of a lady, why is she overly forward. Is she this jobless?