₦airaland Forum

Dudu_Negro: Hello mods,

Can you guys please post this on the front page. Thanks

https://www.nairaland.com/1239208/short-history-yorubaland-picture

Done. Next time use the thread made for homepage requests.

Odenigbo Aroli: You are coming out,gradually....lol. I knew you were gonna create a thread about this issue. But this is just beyond your powers. Its just the way things are. For example,if I have my way I will ban Igbo Izugbo and have everybody study in their dialects. One of my cousin had a baby and named the child "Chizaram" and I can't help to notice how she has lost touch with our sweet Omanbala dialect and adopted a foreign dialect with which she name her daughter with. In Anambra we say "Chizalum" and it infuriates me each time I encounter Anambrarians who are nonchalant about the preservation of our culture. Igbo Izugbe,on its own was a selfish fabrication by the parasitic europeans to make people with certain cultural similarity one,so,they can control and manipulate them with ease.

The same is happening amongst Southern/Eastern Igbo. People from Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, and Rivers are now bearing names like 'Afamefuna, Ifeanyichukwu, Ifeoma, Ekenedilichukwu, Onuora, Obieze, and Odili' while their own names are lost to memory. I must revive the names of my people.

o'boy:
i though standard igbo was inter woven from abia and imo dialects,why do you have problem speaking it,?

Igbo Izugbe is basically the Igbo spoken in northern Imo state. It sounds nothing like Ngwa, nor does it sound anything like the Old Bende dialects, so I don't know why people say it's from Abia. Izugbe sounds like the dialects from the Arondizuogu/Okigwe area of Imo state.

After serious pondering and consideration of your advice and that of others, I have decided to give my address in Igbo Izugbe. The main reason I made this decision is because I'm aiming for maximum clarity, not really because I believe it's the right thing to do in this situation.

In all honesty, speaking Igbo Izugbe feels like having a mental handicap, just like Chinenye described. There are certain ways that you can play around with language while speaking your dialect that can't be replicated in Izugbe. A dialect is the natural modus communicandi and speaking it just makes communication more enjoyable and interesting. Nevertheless, the Anambra-Enugu-Imo gang can continue exercising this liberty while the rest of us resort to mechanical speech. The pulpit is the only place they'll ever hear me speaking Izugbe.

I'm sorry to say it, but this thread is a joke. I don't even know where to begin.

lepasharon: Does nwobodo really mean looking for someone to fhuckk??

'Nwobodo' means 'citizen'.

lepasharon: and what does anu mpama mean?

'Anu mpama' is an insult. It means 'foolish animal'.

Ikengawo: To be very honest, not everyone is going to be intelligent or well exposed enough for this conversation. You'll have to have a reasonable understanding of phonetics, history and allusion. These are three subjects that aren't taught or are taught poorly in Nigerians schools. I'm ok with anyone that doesn't understand gbajiye/baje/bajiye are similar, I just ask you say what you need and leave because it's not by force that you belong to every subject.

The main point is that "gbajié" doesn't carry the same connotation as "baje" and neither do the two words sound the same. The 'j' in 'gbajié' is hard and sounds like the letter 'g' (gee). The 'j' in 'baje' is soft and sounds like 'zh' as in 'Zhou' (or an Owere man's pronounciation of 'zi' as in 'to show').

Furthermore, when saying that "the world has spoiled" in Igbo, we say "uwa emebiela" and not "uwa agbajiela". This means that "gbajie" is not the Igbo equivalent of "baje" and that the two words serve entirely different purposes.

Stranglehold: My post has been hidden and banned on this thread.
https://www.nairaland.com/1289260/african-phenotype-diversity-thread/6

Can you please unhide and unban me please. Thank.

Done.

*Semuhle*Baby*:
could you please put this on frontpage

https://www.nairaland.com/1328142/south-africa-nigeria-ghana-make#16302854

Done. Next time please post this on the appropriate thread.

pleep: This is somalia9. ban him for making an alt account

... thats what you would do if it was anyone else.

The point is not to prevent him from visiting the culture section. The point is to prevent him (and anyone else) who decides to constitute a nuisance from doing so. When he (or anyone else) begins displaying the characteristics that warranted the banning of Somalia9, I shall work accordingly.

Ndi Nigeria enweghi ike inwe idi n'otu, o na buru Nigeria niile ma ndi Ghana ma ndi Afrika Ndida?

"Lagos, o ga na agbaji" doesn't even make sense in Igbo. The proper way to translate "Eko o ni baje" would be "Lagos agaghi emebi" (Lagos shall not spoil).

I fret for the Urhobo people and their language/culture.

Afam4eva: Not everybody can speak Izugbe. Some people including myself were brought up to speak their own dialects and they're used to it. If they understood Igbo Izugbe and are used to it, they'll definitely speak it. Some of my cousins from the village find it difficult speaking Igbo Izugbe as they grew up speaking Nkanu Dialect. It's like that in many other lamguages. If you've watched Yoruba movies, you'll noticed that people from Ibadan speak with a particular dialect.

Like i said before, their dialects are understandable by most Igbos but my dialects and maybe yours are not understandable by majority of Igbo, so we have to stick with what majority of people will understand. I have an Umuahia friend who speaks his dialect to me and sometimes i don't undertsand what he's saying word-for-word but i don't tell him because i know he doesn't know any better as he grew up in Umuahia. The keyword here is to be understood.

"Some people find it hard to speak Izugbe" is a poor excuse. These are full-grown adults that we are talking about here and not kids. Why should you be involved in public speaking if you can't speak a language that is widely accepted and understood? That's like saying the President should speak in Hausa since he finds it hard to speak English.

Secondly, I myself grew up in Arochukwu and have been exposed to Aro all my life and I'm still able to speak Izugbe, much less these full-grown adults that have been exposed to diversity all their lives. I still don't see a reason why full-grown adults can speak their "fa ncha, fa ncha" and "shi shi" while others are expected to speak standard Igbo.

Afam4eva: You have to speak a dialect that majority of people will understand. Anambra and to a lesser extent Imo people can be forgiven in this regard because their dialects are easily understand by almost all Igbos. But it's not the same with some other dialects. I don't think the Enugu people in your church were actually speaking their dialects because a lot opf Enugu people include my family speak kinda like Anambra people. We only speak our dialect when we're speaking to our fellow Enugu people.

I don't believe that it's right. There's already a [manufactured] dialect that everyone can understand, so I don't see how it makes sense for a select group to forsake that dialect and speak freely while others are to strain themselves so as to avoid saying something that not everyone understands.

It's nothing but outright discrimination and hypocrisy, in my eyes. No matter how intelligible you're dialect is, when amongst others, you must speak Izugbe. If not, don't expect others to do so.

At my church, I was chosen to write and deliver an address to the congregation in the Igbo language. Naturally, I would choose to write and speak in Igbo Izugbe (Standard Igbo), but knowing the circumstances and the situation at my church, I am having second thoughts.

First of all, my church is dominated (population-wise) by people from Anambra, Enugu, and Imo (especially Mbano). There are only two or three families from Abia, one from Ebonyi, and none from Rivers or Delta. My issue is that when these people (Anambra, Enugu, and Imo) speak, they speak in their dialects, forgetting that they are speaking to a diverse audience.

I suggested that I would give my address in my own dialect (Aro) since everyone else was basically doing the same. However, I was told that it wasn't the best idea since "not everyone would understand what I was saying" and that I should speak in Standard Igbo.

Now my question is this: why is it that a select group are given the liberty to speak "fa ncha, fa ncha" and "shi shi" while others must forsake this liberty in exchange for Standard Igbo? What do you Nairalanders think I should do? I have no problem speaking in Central Igbo while in the midst of a diverse crowd, but it feels like discrimination when others don't do the same.

Is this thread about the longest-ruling surviving monarch or the longest-ruling monarch ever?

The longest-ruling monarch ever [to be recorded] in Nigeria was the late HRM Eze Mazi Kanu Oji of Arochukwu, who ruled for a total of 69 years from 1918 to his death in 1987.

http://aronewsonline.com/files/Aro_Monarchy.doc

Continue to digest topics, guys.

I've attend to all of your immediate requests. Expect a formal address from me [to all Culture Section frequenters] soon.

KidStranglehold: You can do something about Somalia9's post on my thread...
https://www.nairaland.com/1289260/african-phenotype-diversity-thread/5

^^^Maybe delete them or ban him altogether.

I will attend to it as soon as possible.

Rossikk: If you had the slightest shame or dignity in you, you would not allow somalia9 to continually racially abusing Nigerians on this forum, while you ask us rubbish.

If you had the smallest atom of respect within you, you would address me in a more respectful and deserving manner. I understand that you are frustrated due to recent developments, but that is no reason for you to speak to me as in such a manner. You should take into consideration that there is only one active moderator in this section, and upon his shoulders rests work meant for two. I have been very busy lately, but even at that, I still realize that it is my responsibility to attend to the needs of Nairalanders within this section, and I have done so.

Expect a formal address from me [to all Culture Section frequenters] soon.

Inyi aza áà ekwu 'before' n'okwu ali inyi? M ma Izugbe n'eku ya 'tupu', kama anyinde bunu Aro n'eku ya 'tam'. Nani ihe m choro ima bu o buru o nwo aga odo aza ekwu ya.

How do you say 'before' in your dialects? I know Central Igbo is 'tupu', but Aro says 'tam'. I'm interested in seeing if there are more words for it.

Abeg, what dialect is 'Obielumani'?

pazienza: Nobody in igboland would name a child oroma(orange). Besides,oroma for orange is not an igbo word,i think it's a borrowed word.

Oroma means oru oma(good work), because of olilo udaume, 'u' was swallowed up by 'o' to give you oroma.
Oroma is obviously a shortened form of a long name,which could be, oru oma chukwu rurum( good work that God did for me).


And i don't think it's perculiar to south south igbos,as i know a gal from Nnobi-idenmili who goes by that name,though in the typical idemili tongue,the 'r' in oroma is replaced with 'l' to give oloma(olu oma).


The ikwerres use oro for ulo/uno, so in that context,oroma(oro oma) could mean good house. So maybe the gal in question is an ikwerre.

Dalu kwa.

Nsogbu adighi.

igbo boy: Damn you knowledge of igbo culture is deep....I am learning everyday here on NL and listening to igbo music.

Is ofo same as Offor?

In one of Kelly handsome's song he said "ejim offor/ofo" (not sure which spelling)...

Yes, they are the same thing. 'Ofo' is an alternate spelling of 'Offor', just like 'Okafo' is an alternate spelling of 'Okafor'. The modern spelling is 'ofo'.

What an interesting thread.

pazienza: Not true. Those groups were originally igbo speaking, the name of their first leaders suggests so. Just like the western igbos that assimilated edo elements with time,so did these eastern igbo groups assimilate cross riverian elements with time.

You can't really compare Western (Anioma) Igbo with Eastern (Cross River) Igbo because the circumstances behind their settlements in the areas in which they now inhabit are different. Ohafia, Aro, and Edda (Ada) are not mute peoples. They have clearly recorded their histories both online and offline. I suggest you take a look, if you doubt me.

Polyglotism has historically been common among the groups in the Cross River region; meaning that people sometimes bear cross-ethnic names. Therefore, in this region (and especially at that time period), names are not always an indicator of ethnicity.

Anyway, if I may ask, what were the names of the original founding fathers of these peoples?

It's not about me liking it. It's about the legitimacy of this your question. This osu issue has even discussed to the point of exhaustion on this website, and if you were really serious about learning more about it, you would've done some research. This just looks like an attempt to talk down on a people and speak ill on a cultural practice which, according to you, you don't even know much about.

Secondly, osu is not a "flogged issue in Igboland". Osu was something that was only relevant in parts of Imo and Anambra states, to say the least. Before you form an opinion on a people's cultural practices, make sure that you have fully understood that practice instead of terming it an "obnoxious tradition". Although you are free to have your own opinion, as an outsider it is extremely rude for you to but your head into the affairs of a society and tell them what to do and what to do away with.

I nula? Beeni.

I have half the mind to close this thread.

No problem. It's been taken care of.