Chat acronyms are one of the many urban forms of language that have stood the test of time, blurring the lines between formal and informal text based communication and in turn has led to the undoing of many white collar staff in their 20s and early 30s, as they find it hard to replace some of these acronyms with actual words when faced with task of exchanging information via mail in the cooperate environment.
The Nigerian youths are not left out, in a bid to retain some tenets of our culture (in this case – Language..). Here is a list of popular internet acronyms arraigned alongside two of our very own local translations (Igbo and Yoruba).
Attention!!! You might want to keep a handkerchief of tissue paper within armslength for the event that follows:
1. ENGLISH word: OMG! (oh my God)
Igbo acronym: CME! (Chineke me eh!)
Yoruba acronymn: EMI!/ OMI! (Eleda mi o!/ Oluwa mi o!)
2. ENGLISH: TTYL (Talk to you later)
IGBO: EKAK (emee ka anyi kwuo)
YORUBA: ATSL (Ao tun soro laipe)
3: ENGLISH: FYI (For your infomation)
IGBO: LAE (lee anya enyia)
YORUBA: FAR (Fun Akiyesii re)
4. ENGLISH: LOL (Laugh out loud)
IGBO: OAM (ochi atogbuo m)
YORUBA: GSR (Gbohun soke rerin)
5. ENGLISH: ROFLMAO (Rolling on the floor laughing my ass out)
IGBO: OEMROC (ochi emeela m rie okpa chibuzo)
YORUBA: GAYIBES (Gbe ara yi ile bu erin so )
LAE… they are yet to be etched in stone, copyrighted and added to the urban dictionary, so there’s still room for refinement. Go ahead, suggest modifications where necessary…. while you still can. GSR
And if you understand hausa language well, dont forget to translate the meaning of these acronyms in the comment box.
