9 Words Nigerians Use Everyday You Would Most Likely Not Find In A Dictionary

Leadership of labour and civil society speaks to thousands of people protesting against the scrapping of oil subsidy at Gani Fawehinmi Park in Lagos, on January 11, 2012. Thousands of protesters gathered at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in the third day of on-going mass strike by labour and civil society to protest the scrapping of oil subsidy by the government. AFP PHOTO/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

Everywhere English goes it is corrupted and refurbished to suit the people there and Nigeria is no exception. With the advent of pidgin, which is like the official ‘street’ language in Nigeria, many other variations have been made to English language in Nigeria. These words are so often used, that it has started to sound like proper English. INFOMATION NIGERIA brings you 9 of them in this piece…

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Trafigate: We bet you thought this was proper English but it isn’t. The word is used to describe a situation where a driver indicates to other drivers that he/she wants to take a turn.

 

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Parker: Probably from the word pack but the proper thing should be dustpan.

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Go-slow: The context in which it is used in Nigeria definitely is when it should be used. The word is a situation in which road traffic is very sluggish due to vehicle queues. However, go-slow in the English language actually means an industrial tactic used by employees whereby they intentionally reduce activity, productivity and efficiency in order to press home some demands.

 

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Pepperish: This one is very common. It is used to describe a meal that has too much pepper in it. The proper word should be ‘peppery’.

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Gist: Every Nigerian likes a good gist, no wonder you love INFORMATION NIGERIA because we serve it to you hot, but the word gist doesn’t exist in English language.

 

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Wahala: This is used to describe a situation when trouble comes. It was made in Nigeria for Nigerians and by Nigerians. It does not exist in English.

 

Lapping: We hear this on the bus a lot. ‘Let me lap you’. The only lapping in English means a gentle sound of water not sitting on someone.

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Flashing: The word is used to describe when someone rings your mobile phone and cuts off before you answer and almost every Nigerian uses that word at least once daily but the word doesn’t exist in that sense in English.

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Posted: Intending corp members use this one a lot – you hear things like ‘where were you posted’. The only posted in English is ‘to make ​sure that someone always ​knows what is ​happening’, not how we use it.

Which of them are you guilty of???