₦airaland Forum

A homophone are different words with the same sound, so stalk (secretly follow somebody) and stalk (the stem of a plant) are homophones in English. In many languages including Igbo you can make a sentence using homophones.

In order to participate you have to make a grammatically correct (maybe with some exceptions) sentence in Igbo using one sound and then translate it for the sake of others.. They can be no smaller than four words.

I'll start:

Ézì èzí èzí ézì Ézí ézí èzí

Trans: The foreign/wild pig showed the pig of Ezi town a proper family/household.

and

Há hà há háà ha ha

Trans: They left them and then the others left them.

Éké èké éké éké

Trans: The python created the division of/on Eke day

Ajasnoop: I am inclined to believe that Osikapa is a corruption of the word Shinkafa. as its more than likely the Hausas had access to rice before the Igbos and Idomas. Do you know the origin of Shinkafa or do you have any similar words that are related in other languages

What makes you think people in northern Nigeria had access to rice before the ones in the south?

I used to follow all this drama about individual ethnic groups and their influence on the diaspora, but I've come to realise that individuals in the diaspora and sometimes very small regions have their individual cultural heritages so it isn't good enough just to say 'Jamaica is this' or 'Haiti is that'. These enslaved people were real individuals and they left descendants, so it should be the individuals cultural heritage that counts. That's not to say, however, that a certain groups influence in a region of the Americas should be overlooked, but we have to understand that the diaspora is much more complicated than 'the Fulani were here, and the Wolof were there'. Even these ethnic identities have transformed after the slave trade and colonialism.

I've seen examples of the generalisations in this thread. Igbo people for example, gradually accumulated in the Chesapeake region of the United States and these individuals contributed to an overall more Igbo influenced slave culture. But that is not to say that in another region like South Carolina that other groups, like the Wolof, didn't have more of an influence in the slave culture. But we can't forget that these cultures are, at whatever stage, a mix.

[quote author=*Kails*]true that.
i should have been specific.

i also know somalis had their own writing system
why did you guys switch? [/quote]Igbo people as a whole didn't have writing, but there is one known as a proto-writing system known as nsibidi and was used by eastern Igbo groups and over into western Cameroon. There were some other interesting symbolic signs that showed potential as writing but none as developed as nsibidi.

KidStranglehold: @$$ shaking DEFINITELY came from central Africa. I never see West African girls @$$ shaking like Central Africans.

Mapouka - Ivory Coast

[quote author=*Kails*]i havent watched the video yet bro. But I will.

I know that some early west african tribes used writing systems similar to heiroglyphs of ancient egypt (symbolism).

And I also like how ethiopians have still their own writing system unique to them. Thats pretty tight. [/quote]It's easy to think Egyptian writing is 'symbolism', but its actually writing which can be used to write utterances.

Garri the 1st: Why are Nigerian women silent even as a few men scheme to ensure that the future of female children in the Northern part of the country is sacrificed on the altar of their barbaric lustful desires??

Why aren't they protesting and vehemently opposing such satanic development??

I say shame on ALL Nigerian women who have chosen to maintain a loud criminal silence even at this time!!!!

You're shameless. Instead of you to be talking about protecting YOUR future girl children, you instead laid the blame on disenfranchised women, when the blame is not on them but on the useless men who put this rubbish into law and the other millions of useless men who allowed this in a country that is overwhelmingly dominated by men and their desires. How many senators are women? Next time think before making stupid threads.

The divide started from the colonial administration who left the northern society to govern itself with its own feudal culture (culture where a few are masters who own the lands and the majority are their servants/under them) because the northern Islamic leaders were more willing to serve the British Empires desires. This is why Northern children were not encouraged to see Western education as a means of scaling up the ladder of success because it did not exist in the feudal north unless you had a good name, and in that case you were probably already an aristocrat. The same applies to religion since missionaries were largely barred by the British from entering the north to appease their Islamic puppets.

In the south however the cultures were not as stratified and there was no feudal system in most of eastern Nigeria, so in order to control the masses (which wasn't as easy as shortcutting to an overlord Sultan or Emir) the British allowed a huge amount of missionaries into the south and Western education was allowed to flourish. Many easterners were recruited into civil service and education became the way to success which is why eastern Nigerian people are the most competitive education wise today in Nigeria. Also competition to succeed is just a way of life for many southern Nigerians.

mikeansy: Nobody is asking anyone to loose their culture

The Nigerian President is the President of all Nigerians and not representative of any ethnic group in Aso Rock

Just like I would expect the President to address the Nation in a language everyone can understand, it makes sense for the President to present a persona that majority of Nigerians can relate to most of the time.

I am not sure we have more culture than the Kenyans, the South Africans or the Ghanaians! But their Presidents present a united front most of the times.

Who knows? if Yar'adua wore suits and Jonathan after him wear suits . . . .may be their wont be bombings from Boko Haram calling for an Islamic Caliphate.

We have tried this concept of having Presidents in robes since independence, you know what? we are not anymore united than we was in the 1930s, we are not even anymore successful, the celebration of our diversity is not even the Envy of Africa let alone the world.

Celebration of our culture and diversity should be the forte of chiefs, traditional representatives, regional heads and individuals. Our National leaders should strive to present a united front at all times!

What the Nigerian president wears has nothing to do with the unity of the country. If Goodluck Jonathan wears a suit it will not stop him from being seen as an Ijaw president. Do you seriously believe that Boko Haram never would have formed if Yar'Adua wore a suit? You think there's a chance of that?

Since you want to talk about unity, then why is it that Gulf states whose members of government largely wear traditional Gulf-Arab dressing in official state matters have a more united front than Nigerian's do even when the majority of those countries are now made up of foreigners? What about the prime-minister of India?

mikeansy: I cant wait for a President in suits

In a country where tribalism is so rife, sometimes I wonder whether it makes sense to have a President who dresses in his tribal attire everyday and thereby reminding people from the other end of the boarder that I am not one of you!

anyway those are my views

Nigeria should be striving towards tolerance of each other cultures, not erasure of them altogether to appease the next man. The same irrational arguments are made for other things like languages, that Nigeria should end up completely Westernising itself to force a camaraderie between ethnic groups that has never been there. It does not work,

[quote author=PAGAN 9JA]FIRST OF ALL, those kaftaans, etc., our politicians wear are not ORIGINAL Nigerian costumes. infact jonathans kaftan reminds me of what those pakistanis wear.

his Ijaw ancestors never wore that shyz.[/quote]No.

[img]http://3.bp..com/_QVW98iGMXHI/S3TsPEHAe1I/AAAAAAAAKCQ/12JxjR_FvuA/s640/igboman.png[/img]

This is the best:

https://africanarguments.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Fashola.jpg

hotmas911: modernisation is not westernisation. I just think our politicians need to modernise.

Suits are Western.

dolphinife: When enugu state governor, sullivan chime sent packing civil servants from the state ministries who are frm abia state. The following week, theordore orji of abia state follow suit. That's an intra-ethnic conflict.

Moreso, I learnt imo govt sent some people packing frm the state. This can never happen with the yorubas cos we see ourselves as Omoluwabi

I told you to give me conflicts with death tolls. You know very well I can list some serious inter-ethnic violence in all other 'regions', instead you chose to pick a relatively minor political event headed by the individual governors and not even supported by the state citizens. Give me death tolls then I can take your write ups seriously, otherwise mind your own Lagosian sackings!

dolphinife: Let it be clear to you all that the most disunited ethnic group in this country is definitely the IGBOS.

Name a well-known inter-Igbo conflict.

He's courageous for being different in the idiotocracy called Nigeria.

This narrative of the eastern Nigeria being the picture of disunity is a fucking lie. Nowhere else in Nigeria has been as stable as south eastern Nigeria in terms of ethnic conflict. If we want to talk about ethnic wars, eastern Nigeria (and bearing in mind this is the most resource rich part of Nigeria) has been relatively tame if you do not include the late 60s which was mostly caused by external influences. The biggest inter-Igbo conflict in Nigeria cannot stand up to the biggest conflicts in other major ethnic groups, even historically we can't name any relevant major wars in the eastern region apart from the Aro-Ibibio war and Igala invasions.

Even during Biafra the state was run so well considering circumstances that it put Nigeria to shame, the capital was moved around the whole of the Igbo territory, so where was all the disunity then?

If we want to bring up a relevant argument against a Igbo-state or whatever then try something else, like the truth, I like my village group best, which there's nothing wrong with.

Abagworo: Infact Southeast and South-south will be in a long lasting tribal war and war for land and natural resources.

None of which happend in Biafra.

Temptee101: So for ur small mind u hv contributed wisely? I sorry for u bro. I guess dis sort of record breaking should be channelled to d joke section of d Guiness book of record. Naija tryin so hard 2mak d GBR against all odds

What was the point of this reply? You really didn't really say anything. You just commented for the sake of commenting and wasting our bandwidth with your nonsense waste of kilobytes. If you want to call someone small minded then reply with something sensible.

Why are Nigerians so senselessly negative, these kinds of events encourage children's team work skills and sense of working towards a common goal, something that Nigeria is desperately lacking. School isn't all about (cramming) books, it's also about building character, despite popular belief in Nigeria. Despite that these kinds of events are good for Nigeria's international image since the international perception of Nigeria is mostly negative. If you have nothing intelligent to contribute then why type nonsense?

Fencing in Nigeria is also cultural

https://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m72bbtr30G1qjh37to1_500.jpg
https://24.media.tumblr.com/273cf69ca13114becc117de9f5c6a6d1/tumblr_mgr607SJN01qjh37to4_1280.jpg

To Killayut the origin of life itself is Kalabari.

Many of these cultural groups do have vague political allegiances, at least before the 20th century. The groups seem to acknowledge common descent and ancestral traditions, but politically, especially in more southerly place, the only unit that truly matters politically is the village and even those bonds are often shaky.

Antivirus92: Continuing from where i stopped. Nri or eri is not a clan in igboland. An ogwashi ukwu or an enugwu-agidi man can not come out and tell u that he is nri unlike aro or ngwa man that will tell u that he is ngwa or aro. Nri/eri is igbo.

The word 'clan' is not a good word to begin with. Clan referes specifically to Scottish family groups. All Igbo societie[b]s[/b] were not equivalents of each other. Many Igbo societies were 'minor' gerontocracies wholly independent from each other but with a sense of being in a larger village group, these groups often switched allegiances even within the village because of the 'rugged' individualistic nature of umunna. Others were confederacies, 'chiefdoms', and others like Nri were 'theocratic' societies. Nri people are known as Umunri and even within the Nri world they have other groups like Umudiana.

It's not good enough to just label everyone as 'clannish'.

Antivirus92: Yes, people do make mistakes when talking about igbo people. Mistakes like classifying-onitsha,awka,aro,ikwerre etc as igbo groups is totally ignorance. These are communities within igboland and not igbo groups.

But what then makes them classesed as within "Igboland". Igboland is a 20th century word coined to explain the areas inhabited indigenously by people who claim to be Igbo. If they're not Igbo groups then they're not in Igboland. And who would the Igbo groups be?

Antivirus92: Secondly, reffering to idemmili,izzi,ezza,ngwa etc as igbo clans is totally uncalled for. These are local governments and not clans.

They're not clans or local government areas, they're cultural groups who have a relevant pre-20th century political bond.

Antivirus92: Thirdly,saying that igbo is a language group is totally rubbish. Igbo is a tribe which is growing/has grown into a nation. Igbo itself belongs to a language group(kwa) and there is no way it can be a language group of its own.

Kwa is also Niger-Congo, so a language group can be in a language group, Igbo is even supposed to be in the Igboid language group where Ikwere and some other languages are clumsily classified along with "Igbo proper".

Antivirus92: Fourthly, igbo borrowed words from bini,yoruba etc is false unless the person is talking about modern day slang. No core igbo word has foreign root.

If your people call cats nwa ologbo or call your masquerade ekpo then you've borrowed non-Igbo words.

Antivirus92: Lastly, igbo people have different origins, yes some have. But majority of igbo people are of the same origin. With time,igbo assimilated many other non-igbo groups into them. In some occassions, the language/culture and tradition is influenced from slight to noticeable. More to come, now ur comments.

No one is certain of the origin of most Nigerian people.