Nigerians
are very good at a number of things and one of them is inventing their own
version of English which has become popular overtime.
Some of the words and phrases we use often cannot be found in the dictionary.
Some are words you picked up from others and they have become quite a norm.
It is not only the uneducated folks that are guilty of using these wrong words
as the very educated Nigerians also use the English language inappropriately.
Below are
words Nigerians use that don’t exist in the English dictionary.
1. Go-slow:
When Nigerians say go-slow, they mean congested traffic, which is wrong. The
meaning of go-slow in the English dictionary is, a form of industrial action in
which work or progress is deliberately delayed or slowed down.
2. Disvirgin:
This word is used on a daily basis by many Nigerians when they intend to say a
woman has lost her virginity. There is no word like disvirgin. The correct word
to use is deflower. Disvirgin simply does not exist.
3.
Trafficate: Nigerians use the word to describe a situation where a driver
indicates to other drivers that he/she wants to take a turn. It is used so
often, that it has started to sound like proper English.
4. Flashing:
Every Nigerian knows “flashing” to mean when someone calls your mobile phone
and cuts off before you answer. The word ‘flash’ is so common among Nigerians
and its used at least once daily by many. Flash has different meanings but none
has anything to do with a phone call. The word doesn’t exist in that sense in
English.
5. Installmentally:
Don’t be tempted to use the word ‘installmentally’. Though it sounds correct,
it isn’t. There is no such word in the English dictionary as it exists only in
the Nigerian edition of English language. The correct thing to say is ‘in
instalments’.
6.
Opportuned: What exists in English dictionaries is ‘opportune,’ without ‘d’ at
the end. Opportune means ‘timely’ or ‘well-time, especially convenient or
appropriate for a particular action or event. Opportuned is only common in
Nigerian English.
7. Cunny:
This is a word which Nigerians use to describe someone that is being deceitful
or crafty. The right word is cunning not cunny.
8. Next
tomorrow: Most Nigerians generally use “next tomorrow” but there is not such
word as next tomorrow. Instead you should say, “a day after tomorrow."
9. Packer:
Nigerians probably got the word from pack. The right word is dustpan. Since
dustpan packs dirt, Nigerians like to call it packer.
10.
Pepperish: It is common to hear Nigerians describe a meal that has too much
pepper in it as pepperish. The proper word should be ‘peppery’. No native
English speaker uses the word pepperish” to describe the burning sensation we
feel from eating pepper.
11. Majorly:
This is about the commonest mistake freely made even by people in academics.
The proper word is "mainly". Majorly is now known as a slang
Which of
these words are you guilty of?
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