₦airaland Forum

Amanyanabo:
Bullocks! How was ur nite in Nigeria English is a polite question. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Why should I care what a Briton or American thinks

MrSly:
You should because English as a language and a field of study is originally and exclusively theirs not yours. We just borrowed.

mu2sa2:
How was your night seems to be literal translation from yoruba. To yoruba people and maybe other nigerians it's perfectly in order but it may be weird to say those words to an English person on a normal day. I think in nigeria we tend to think "good morning" is too short and something must be added - e.g " Good morning, sir. How was your night? How is madam? Hope you are hearing from grandma(in the village). Thank you, sir. Remain blessed in jesus name( or may Allah continue to guide and bless you and your family)." We have idle time, so we can afford to waste time on useless things. Why can't we just say "good morning" and move on?

gwarotango:
Please you have to admit that the expression is wrong. I'm not an expert in the English language but it's just not proper

darling4real1:
I TRULY DON'T ANSWER THIS!!

*Do you know that asking a person “How was your night?” is wrong?*
Well, if you didn’t know it until today, get to know with the help of Edward E Onoriode who shared the update on his Facebook wall.
I felt it very necessary to spread the word and help people know about it too.

Here it is.... as posted by Edward E Onoriode.

I attended a IED (Improvise Explosive Device) fusion cell meeting with some US and British EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) experts yesterday to discuss all the IED incidences that had happened within the week across Somalia.

At the meeting hall, I saluted one of the British officers ‘Good morning sir’ and he responded back ‘good morning to you too’

My oversabi did not allow me to keep quiet so I went further with the Nigeria popular phrase ‘how was your night sir?’

Dude was shock. He looked at me in a weird way as if I’d said something out of the ordinary. Something that’s sacrilegious which is an abomination to his ears. After some sec, he said ‘how my night went is none of your business’!

I was awed in shock. Normally, I was expecting a simple ‘fine’ ‘Good’ ‘Splendid’ ‘ My night was great’ etc. But he didn’t say any of these but he told me ‘how my night went is none of your business’!
I felt embarrassed.

For minutes, I couldn’t mutter a word back to him. I just buried my head in shame.

All through the meeting, I was lost in thought and I couldn’t concentrate on the meeting minutes. I kept asking myself within, ‘was my question wrong?’ ‘have I said something that offended this man?’ ‘could it be that he had a bad night rest and he decided to transfer the aggression at me?’

After the meeting, I did a little Google search and I couldn’t believe the answers I got.

Ladies and gentlemen, did you know the phrase “How was your night ” In English Language means “How was last nights sex?” “How was your night shift duty?” “How was your health during the night hours?”

Whenever you ask this question in the morning to healthy people who are not in sick bed, you’re invariably inquiring about their sexual comfort/activities during the night or how their night shift went and it’s rude to ask such mostly if you’re not closely related to the person.
No wonder the British officer find my question condescending because he felt I was intruding in his private business since I’m not too familiar with him. But I asked that question with a sincere and innocent mind without any harm.
Basically, how was your night is normally asked to people who are receiving treatments in the hospital or people who are on night shift.

Nigeria has really messed me up. Now, I’d be more careful whenever I want to speak with these white folks because I never can tell when I’d say something that’s offensive and invasive again.
By the way, I need to un-learn so many English I’ve been proudly speaking, they’re wrong.
My happiness is that I know the appropriate question whenever I want to enquire how a person’s night went now and it should be;

“Did you have a good night sleep?” or
“Did you sleep well?

The answer to ‘ How was your night?’ Is actually ‘none of your business!’

I have checked our local languages. Even as literal translation goes, no Nigerian language asks ‘How was your night?’ I am checking because of this phrase, for those who know, was not in use in Nigeria as recent as 10 years ago.

As my Doctor friend said to me, it may have come from hospitals.
It’s common knowledge according to the doctor that sick people often have rough nights and most deaths occur at night. So a doctor’s question to the patient during morning ward rounds is usually ‘How was your night?’ If we exported hospital vocabulary to the streets, are we now to assume, we are all at death’s door?

The proper address for mornings is simply ‘good morning’ and if you want to spice it up by being overly friendly, you may add ‘hope you slept well?’ A person’s night is not our business.

If we are Igbo it’s either, ibolachi– have you woken up. Ututuoma- good morning.

If Yoruba, 'ę karo' – good morning. You can go further as Yorubas are won’t do by adding “se daada l'ę ji’ – hope you woke up well?

None of these our local greetings intrusively asks ‘How was your night?’ So, No! It is not African either.
Let us be well aware when we leave our lanes to go measuring that of others.
����������
*So now we know!*
*Don't go asking me or anyone else "How was my night anymore?*

*Copied*

uuzba:
My day was good.

One is expected to go about doing good things during the day. Doing social activities. That is a normal thing.
So one will answer you in a positive way.
My day was good.
I did good social activities.

Night is when one wishes to be alone, to sleep, to be with his wife...., To pray, to rest.
For those who are enduring suffering/hardship/sickness that they have been keeping secret from public view. They suffer/endure everything in the night.

It is non of your business what a person does in their house in the night.
If he wants to tell you, he can tell you.
But if not, it is none of your business.
Stop asking the question.

ubee:
Look at how pathetic you are. You are displaying the classical blame and finger pointing to white man as the cause of all your problems but are too empty and cocky to look within to see you are the cause. I'm far from feeling inferior to any other race. Did you not see I posted above I've called out my colleagues on that inappropriate greeting style as far back as 10 years.
The greeting is wrong there are no two ways.
But you can keep on wallowing in your tragic ignorance

Sterope:
Every country has its own variance. The question 'how was your night?' is a very valid question.

Sunsets:
You missed an opportunity to teach them Nigerian English instead your inferiority complex turned you to an emergency English lecturer - a failed one at that.
Please, how was your night? Deal with it.

darling4real1:
I TRULY DON'T ANSWER THIS!!

*Do you know that asking a person “How was your night?” is wrong?*
Well, if you didn’t know it until today, get to know with the help of Edward E Onoriode who shared the update on his Facebook wall.
I felt it very necessary to spread the word and help people know about it too.

Here it is.... as posted by Edward E Onoriode.

I attended a IED (Improvise Explosive Device) fusion cell meeting with some US and British EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) experts yesterday to discuss all the IED incidences that had happened within the week across Somalia.

At the meeting hall, I saluted one of the British officers ‘Good morning sir’ and he responded back ‘good morning to you too’

My oversabi did not allow me to keep quiet so I went further with the Nigeria popular phrase ‘how was your night sir?’

Dude was shock. He looked at me in a weird way as if I’d said something out of the ordinary. Something that’s sacrilegious which is an abomination to his ears. After some sec, he said ‘how my night went is none of your business’!

I was awed in shock. Normally, I was expecting a simple ‘fine’ ‘Good’ ‘Splendid’ ‘ My night was great’ etc. But he didn’t say any of these but he told me ‘how my night went is none of your business’!
I felt embarrassed.

For minutes, I couldn’t mutter a word back to him. I just buried my head in shame.

All through the meeting, I was lost in thought and I couldn’t concentrate on the meeting minutes. I kept asking myself within, ‘was my question wrong?’ ‘have I said something that offended this man?’ ‘could it be that he had a bad night rest and he decided to transfer the aggression at me?’

After the meeting, I did a little Google search and I couldn’t believe the answers I got.

Ladies and gentlemen, did you know the phrase “How was your night ” In English Language means “How was last nights sex?” “How was your night shift duty?” “How was your health during the night hours?”

Whenever you ask this question in the morning to healthy people who are not in sick bed, you’re invariably inquiring about their sexual comfort/activities during the night or how their night shift went and it’s rude to ask such mostly if you’re not closely related to the person.
No wonder the British officer find my question condescending because he felt I was intruding in his private business since I’m not too familiar with him. But I asked that question with a sincere and innocent mind without any harm.
Basically, how was your night is normally asked to people who are receiving treatments in the hospital or people who are on night shift.

Nigeria has really messed me up. Now, I’d be more careful whenever I want to speak with these white folks because I never can tell when I’d say something that’s offensive and invasive again.
By the way, I need to un-learn so many English I’ve been proudly speaking, they’re wrong.
My happiness is that I know the appropriate question whenever I want to enquire how a person’s night went now and it should be;

“Did you have a good night sleep?” or
“Did you sleep well?

The answer to ‘ How was your night?’ Is actually ‘none of your business!’

I have checked our local languages. Even as literal translation goes, no Nigerian language asks ‘How was your night?’ I am checking because of this phrase, for those who know, was not in use in Nigeria as recent as 10 years ago.

As my Doctor friend said to me, it may have come from hospitals.
It’s common knowledge according to the doctor that sick people often have rough nights and most deaths occur at night. So a doctor’s question to the patient during morning ward rounds is usually ‘How was your night?’ If we exported hospital vocabulary to the streets, are we now to assume, we are all at death’s door?

The proper address for mornings is simply ‘good morning’ and if you want to spice it up by being overly friendly, you may add ‘hope you slept well?’ A person’s night is not our business.

If we are Igbo it’s either, ibolachi– have you woken up. Ututuoma- good morning.

If Yoruba, 'ę karo' – good morning. You can go further as Yorubas are won’t do by adding “se daada l'ę ji’ – hope you woke up well?

None of these our local greetings intrusively asks ‘How was your night?’ So, No! It is not African either.
Let us be well aware when we leave our lanes to go measuring that of others.
����������
*So now we know!*
*Don't go asking me or anyone else "How was my night anymore?*

*Copied*

mu2sa2:
How was your night seems to be literal translation from yoruba. To yoruba people and maybe other nigerians it's perfectly in order but it may be weird to say those words to an English person on a normal day. I think in nigeria we tend to think "good morning" is too short and something must be added - e.g " Good morning, sir. How was your night? How is madam? Hope you are hearing from grandma(in the village). Thank you, sir. Remain blessed in jesus name( or may Allah continue to guide and bless you and your family)." We have idle time, so we can afford to waste time on useless things. Why can't we just say "good morning" and move on?

darling4real1:
I TRULY DON'T ANSWER THIS!!

*Do you know that asking a person “How was your night?” is wrong?*
Well, if you didn’t know it until today, get to know with the help of Edward E Onoriode who shared the update on his Facebook wall.
I felt it very necessary to spread the word and help people know about it too.

Here it is.... as posted by Edward E Onoriode.

I attended a IED (Improvise Explosive Device) fusion cell meeting with some US and British EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) experts yesterday to discuss all the IED incidences that had happened within the week across Somalia.

At the meeting hall, I saluted one of the British officers ‘Good morning sir’ and he responded back ‘good morning to you too’

My oversabi did not allow me to keep quiet so I went further with the Nigeria popular phrase ‘how was your night sir?’

Dude was shock. He looked at me in a weird way as if I’d said something out of the ordinary. Something that’s sacrilegious which is an abomination to his ears. After some sec, he said ‘how my night went is none of your business’!

I was awed in shock. Normally, I was expecting a simple ‘fine’ ‘Good’ ‘Splendid’ ‘ My night was great’ etc. But he didn’t say any of these but he told me ‘how my night went is none of your business’!
I felt embarrassed.

For minutes, I couldn’t mutter a word back to him. I just buried my head in shame.

All through the meeting, I was lost in thought and I couldn’t concentrate on the meeting minutes. I kept asking myself within, ‘was my question wrong?’ ‘have I said something that offended this man?’ ‘could it be that he had a bad night rest and he decided to transfer the aggression at me?’

After the meeting, I did a little Google search and I couldn’t believe the answers I got.

Ladies and gentlemen, did you know the phrase “How was your night ” In English Language means “How was last nights sex?” “How was your night shift duty?” “How was your health during the night hours?”

Whenever you ask this question in the morning to healthy people who are not in sick bed, you’re invariably inquiring about their sexual comfort/activities during the night or how their night shift went and it’s rude to ask such mostly if you’re not closely related to the person.
No wonder the British officer find my question condescending because he felt I was intruding in his private business since I’m not too familiar with him. But I asked that question with a sincere and innocent mind without any harm.
Basically, how was your night is normally asked to people who are receiving treatments in the hospital or people who are on night shift.

Nigeria has really messed me up. Now, I’d be more careful whenever I want to speak with these white folks because I never can tell when I’d say something that’s offensive and invasive again.
By the way, I need to un-learn so many English I’ve been proudly speaking, they’re wrong.
My happiness is that I know the appropriate question whenever I want to enquire how a person’s night went now and it should be;

“Did you have a good night sleep?” or
“Did you sleep well?

The answer to ‘ How was your night?’ Is actually ‘none of your business!’

I have checked our local languages. Even as literal translation goes, no Nigerian language asks ‘How was your night?’ I am checking because of this phrase, for those who know, was not in use in Nigeria as recent as 10 years ago.

As my Doctor friend said to me, it may have come from hospitals.
It’s common knowledge according to the doctor that sick people often have rough nights and most deaths occur at night. So a doctor’s question to the patient during morning ward rounds is usually ‘How was your night?’ If we exported hospital vocabulary to the streets, are we now to assume, we are all at death’s door?

The proper address for mornings is simply ‘good morning’ and if you want to spice it up by being overly friendly, you may add ‘hope you slept well?’ A person’s night is not our business.

If we are Igbo it’s either, ibolachi– have you woken up. Ututuoma- good morning.

If Yoruba, 'ę karo' – good morning. You can go further as Yorubas are won’t do by adding “se daada l'ę ji’ – hope you woke up well?

None of these our local greetings intrusively asks ‘How was your night?’ So, No! It is not African either.
Let us be well aware when we leave our lanes to go measuring that of others.
����������
*So now we know!*
*Don't go asking me or anyone else "How was my night anymore?*

*Copied*

1Sharon:
Tell me about it Or when they ask " have you eaten"

Nigerians speak terrible English but get offended when ppl call it out

wallezee:
This is misleading, asking someone how their night went has nothing to do with sex or their state of health in particular, you are right in a way but your explanation and conclusion is erroneous, Its not right to just ask someone about their night without having a prior knowledge of something they would be doing that night, it does not have to be sex, working night shift or been ill, it can be anything, like you knowing that person was out partying that night.

darling4real1:
I TRULY DON'T ANSWER THIS!!

*Do you know that asking a person “How was your night?” is wrong?*
Well, if you didn’t know it until today, get to know with the help of Edward E Onoriode who shared the update on his Facebook wall.
I felt it very necessary to spread the word and help people know about it too.

Here it is.... as posted by Edward E Onoriode.

I attended a IED (Improvise Explosive Device) fusion cell meeting with some US and British EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) experts yesterday to discuss all the IED incidences that had happened within the week across Somalia.

At the meeting hall, I saluted one of the British officers ‘Good morning sir’ and he responded back ‘good morning to you too’

My oversabi did not allow me to keep quiet so I went further with the Nigeria popular phrase ‘how was your night sir?’

Dude was shock. He looked at me in a weird way as if I’d said something out of the ordinary. Something that’s sacrilegious which is an abomination to his ears. After some sec, he said ‘how my night went is none of your business’!

I was awed in shock. Normally, I was expecting a simple ‘fine’ ‘Good’ ‘Splendid’ ‘ My night was great’ etc. But he didn’t say any of these but he told me ‘how my night went is none of your business’!
I felt embarrassed.

For minutes, I couldn’t mutter a word back to him. I just buried my head in shame.

All through the meeting, I was lost in thought and I couldn’t concentrate on the meeting minutes. I kept asking myself within, ‘was my question wrong?’ ‘have I said something that offended this man?’ ‘could it be that he had a bad night rest and he decided to transfer the aggression at me?’

After the meeting, I did a little Google search and I couldn’t believe the answers I got.

Ladies and gentlemen, did you know the phrase “How was your night ” In English Language means “How was last nights sex?” “How was your night shift duty?” “How was your health during the night hours?”

Whenever you ask this question in the morning to healthy people who are not in sick bed, you’re invariably inquiring about their sexual comfort/activities during the night or how their night shift went and it’s rude to ask such mostly if you’re not closely related to the person.
No wonder the British officer find my question condescending because he felt I was intruding in his private business since I’m not too familiar with him. But I asked that question with a sincere and innocent mind without any harm.
Basically, how was your night is normally asked to people who are receiving treatments in the hospital or people who are on night shift.

Nigeria has really messed me up. Now, I’d be more careful whenever I want to speak with these white folks because I never can tell when I’d say something that’s offensive and invasive again.
By the way, I need to un-learn so many English I’ve been proudly speaking, they’re wrong.
My happiness is that I know the appropriate question whenever I want to enquire how a person’s night went now and it should be;

“Did you have a good night sleep?” or
“Did you sleep well?

The answer to ‘ How was your night?’ Is actually ‘none of your business!’

I have checked our local languages. Even as literal translation goes, no Nigerian language asks ‘How was your night?’ I am checking because of this phrase, for those who know, was not in use in Nigeria as recent as 10 years ago.

As my Doctor friend said to me, it may have come from hospitals.
It’s common knowledge according to the doctor that sick people often have rough nights and most deaths occur at night. So a doctor’s question to the patient during morning ward rounds is usually ‘How was your night?’ If we exported hospital vocabulary to the streets, are we now to assume, we are all at death’s door?

The proper address for mornings is simply ‘good morning’ and if you want to spice it up by being overly friendly, you may add ‘hope you slept well?’ A person’s night is not our business.

If we are Igbo it’s either, ibolachi– have you woken up. Ututuoma- good morning.

If Yoruba, 'ę karo' – good morning. You can go further as Yorubas are won’t do by adding “se daada l'ę ji’ – hope you woke up well?

None of these our local greetings intrusively asks ‘How was your night?’ So, No! It is not African either.
Let us be well aware when we leave our lanes to go measuring that of others.
����������
*So now we know!*
*Don't go asking me or anyone else "How was my night anymore?*

*Copied*

Amanyanabo:
Bullocks! How was ur nite in Nigeria English is a polite question. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Why should I care what a Briton or American thinks

uuzba:
OP has told you, that non of your local languages ever translates to "How was your night".
Nigerian English is the English we speak speak when we translate word for word from our native tounge into English. It's a funny English.

Yoruba will say, "Ejo, E ba mi sun" (inside the bus).
Translated to Nigerian English, it means, "Please help me shift"
-
What it funny there is, I cannot HELP you shift. You have to shift with your own nyash, one by one
British English will say, "Please could you shift" or "Please could you shift FOR me.
(Shift your nyash by yourself, but do so because of me. I shall not HELP you push your GIGANTIC nyash.. You push your nyash by yourself)

So, "How was your night ?" is not anybody's language. It is not Nigerian English either.
As OP said, it intrudes upon one privacy .
And the answer is still, NONE OF YOUR GADDEM BUSINESSES.

Amanyanabo:
Bullocks! How was ur nite in Nigeria English is a polite question. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Why should I care what a Briton or American thinks

Sunsets:
How many local languages do you know? I hear as often as it is said, "iralukwalu ofuma?' That is Igbo for how was your night?

uuzba:
OP has told you, that non of your local languages ever translates to "How was your night".
Nigerian English is the English we speak speak when we translate word for word from our native tounge into English. It's a funny English.

Yoruba will say, "Ejo, E ba mi sun" (inside the bus).
Translated to Nigerian English, it means, "Please help me shift"
-
What it funny there is, I cannot HELP you shift. You have to shift with your own nyash, one by one
British English will say, "Please could you shift" or "Please could you shift FOR me.
(Shift your nyash by yourself, but do so because of me. I shall not HELP you push your GIGANTIC nyash.. You push your nyash by yourself)

So, "How was your night ?" is not anybody's language. It is not Nigerian English either.
As OP said, it intrudes upon one privacy .
And the answer is still, NONE OF YOUR GADDEM BUSINESSES.

Sunsets:
Am drawn to tears whenever I see my people lost in mental, intellectual and cultural slavery. What you see those expression are direct translation of our local languages in English. That is how we greet as a people. We ask ourselves lots of interesting questions. In Igbo, we have 'itele?' - 'are you awake?' when loosely translated. You are no longer aware of your uniqueness because you have been extensively damaged. Our language is a bunch of figures of speech. Unfortunately, each line is usually literally translated by us into English - a result of our poor proficiency in English usage. On the bright side though, we have turned it into an invention called Nigerian English. It is staying; we are slaying it.

Bahddo:
Whoever wrote this is not very intelligent. When you say something is 'wrong English', you are saying it is grammatically (or perhaps syntactically) incorrect.

Just say it is misused over here and doesn't truly mean what we think it means.

That said, it high time people realized that African/Nigerian English is actually a thing. It should be rightly recognized as a valid context in which expression usage can differ from BrE or AmE and still be correct.

uuzba:
Before asking your question, make sure the person is from your exact village
We are Nigerians from different tribes. Consider that you are speaking to someone NOT from your village
To assist in this process, the white people gave us English, with its own rules. This is what me and you are currently using right now to communicate.
I cannot spesk your native language. You cannot speak mine
But we can both speak English
Speak it with English rules. Let us equally face the challenge.

If you keep speaking your version of English that offends me, I will reciprocate by speaking my version of English that will offend you
Final result, we bothoffend each other and there is no communication anymore

Gten:
OP, before I comment,how was your night? Yes I said it, English no be my language, the question means well in the Nigerian context. we have more than enough problems to deal with everyday in this country, English that massages a foreigners ego is the least of them.