Friday 27 July 2007

Words you can only hear from a Naija person

My personal favourites are - 3, 23 and 87 . What are yours?

1. Insult upon injury
2. Nonsense and Ingredients
3. If I sound u ehh, I will soon slap you
4. How Far? 5. Can I see your particulars?
6. Anything for me sir?
7. Are you mad?
8. Half-caste
9. Next tomorrow
10. Make I come block you dia
11. Lai, Lai
12. See me see trouble oh
13. Shift/Dress small, make I sit
14. abeg vamus / abeg commot
15. nonsense say wetin happen
16. Abomination
17. Over my dead body
18. God forbid bad thing
19. I need to retouch my (h)air
20. Any word with 'bloody' e.g. bloody fool, bloody liar, bloody idiot
21. Na wa oooo
22. Tell me something
23. Why do you want to know my name?
24. Abeg joo
25. Can u imagine.....
26. wonders shall never cease
27. Tofiakwa (and some people feeling janded will say TUFI!!!!)
28. Chei, Kai
29. Oya me we dey go
30. Hold on lemme branch somewhere

51. Did they sack you?

52. I trekked all the way here
53. Where is the toilet, I want to piss
54. I want to drink cold mineral
55. Which one now?
56. Can u imagine, he was trying to toast me
57. Jacker
58. Your head is not correct
59. Have you seen that film before?
60. Just imagine!
61. My school fees money
62. No wahala!
63. Revise back small
64. Oya, shake body
65. Shine your eye
66. Carry go
67. Don't try me o
68. Enough effizzy
69. Nna, You chop?
70. Ashewo bastard!
71. What happen?
72. We must wash am!
73. Eeyin, but why? (meaning ore/aboki/friend-- why now?)
75. No be soooo!
76. I will see you today, athink?
77. Cold iced water!
78. Abeg commot 4 hia
79. We will hook up next week
80. That chick is BUNZ!!!!!!!
81. BEANZ!!!!!!!!!!!
82. Na Yam?
83. Shakara
84. Na so we see am o!
85. How we go do am now?
86. Like say....
87. You can't do more than a dead rat...
88. Na you sabi
89. cold dey catch me
90. I no send
91. Shey you grab
92. Ma guy, leave am
93. You dey jones
94. You go roast
95. Na for your head
96. we go jam
97. I go burst ur head
98. Bros how far
99. How e dey do u
100. No be Goooood?

14 comments:

lala said...

Oh girl, this your compilation na carry go. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Atutupoyoyo said...

Wow. This is a definitive list of Nigerianisms.

Hand this to any foreigner as a phrasebook and they will have no problems with assimilating

'Noje said...

Sho -- na wa o -- seems like numbers 4, 7,20, 58, 63 and 87 are classic 9ja Police parlance and 97 -- defintely warri -- nice one..

Anonymous said...

lol!naija na we own o!

Porter deHarqourt said...

yep, it's all there definitely

Jaja said...

You too much...

Exhaustive, almost.

classybabe said...

2,13,58,82,87 and 99
lol,I remember saying 13 in primary school

Omodudu said...

I same take am easy now.
Nigerians love adding 'Now' to everything. How you see am now.

Thirty + said...

What does 73 mean.

Others to add
Say wetin happen
Who be your fada
You never hala

UndaCovaSista said...

@ all - makes me proud to be Nigerian, the way we've taken another man's language and commandeered it beyond all recognition!

@30+ : eeyin apparently means friend in igbo, so it's friend, but why?

Anonymous said...

Don't forget "Baba n'la Nonsense!" (My personal favourite!)

Anonymous said...

I think quite a few of these are British, not Nigerian, expressions. For example, 1, 7, 8, 16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, 51, 52, 55, 60.

UndaCovaSista said...

@ anonymous - yes, they are but they have stolen their way into modern day nigerian parlance and become part of it. When last did you hear an English person say 'insult upon injury', or even 'abomination' with the same connotations it would have if being used by a Nigerian?

DB said...

too late but just had to answer 100:
Na GOOOOd!!!
(at least for this Nigeria where we dey.)