All words in English have one or more meanings. However, the wide geographical dispersal of English has resulted in its domestication in many countries, especially in those where the language serves as a second and an official language. Some English words have, over time, taken up new meanings in such countries. This piece will focus on English words that represent new meanings on the Nigerian linguistic landscape. Meanwhile, you should keep in mind that the overarching aim of this article is not to pass judgment on or castigate such peculiar Nigerian usages, for such a situation is not strange or unexpected in a country where a language has come to wine and dine over hundreds of local languages. The phenomenon of words taking up new meanings has been described as a semantic shift or extension by linguists. This essay will, nonetheless, discuss the Nigerian meanings of some of such words vis-à-vis their dictionary/standard meanings.
I shall begin with my reference to Nigerian indigenous languages as ‘local’ languages, in the first paragraph. This, I guess, may sound unpleasant to some of us who probably understand the word, local, to mean ‘not civilised’, ‘lacking in sophistication’, and so forth. But far from that, local means belonging or serving an area. This means that English, as geographically dispersed as it is, is a local language in the UK. In consequence, those people we regard as ‘local’, owing to their ordinary or crude lifestyles, are actually ‘unrefined’ or ‘suburban’. Again, contrary to the popular usage of ‘gist’ as a casual conversation between or among people, it is actually the crux or most important pieces of information about a topic, and it is fixedly used with the article, ‘the’. In place of the word, gist, for a casual discussion, one could use ‘chat’ or ‘chit-chat’, as exemplified below:
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We were gisting throughout (non-standard).
We chatted throughout (standard).
We chit-chatted throughout (informal English).
The gist (the crux or kernel) of the lecture bordered on the importance of gratitude (standard).
Words relating to a person’s physique, in this category, are ‘lanky’ and ‘robust’. Especially among the Yoruba (not, the Yorubas!), a lanky man is often adjudged to be one who is tall and muscularly built. Contrariwise, to be lanky in English is to be tall and thin. Similarly, a robust person is assumed to be fat, plump or plus-sized, when the word actually means to be strong and healthy. Another word used in relation to size, among many Nigerians, is bogus. This is used with recourse to an enormous thing, when it actually means to be false or illegal. These usages are shown in the example sentences below:
He lives in a bogus house (non-standard).
He lives in a gigantic house (standard).
His claims are bogus (standard).
Some words used to describe different kinds of relationship are also found to be misplaced by many Nigerians. Some of such words are: ‘toast’, ‘heartthrob’ and ‘double date’. To ‘toast someone’ involves people raising their glasses of wine, et cetera, and drinking the same simultaneously, in order to express good wishes to someone. This is completely different from the sense of ‘wooing’ a lady, which is obtainable in standard English. Next, in standard English, a ‘heartthrob’ is regarded as a male celebrity that women find appealing. He is not essentially a woman’s lover or sweetheart. Last in this category is double date; this is a word erroneously deployed to mean betraying a spouse or lover by secret lovemaking with another person. In the real sense, it refers to a date for two couples. Meanwhile, such secret lovemaking with someone aside from one’s lover or partner is ‘two-timing’. The individual, who is culpable of such misconduct, is called a ‘two-timer’. These are illustrated below:
I discovered my boyfriend was double-dating (non-standard).
I discovered my boyfriend was two-timing me (standard). Note that the verb, two-time, often attracts an object.
My wife and I will go out on a double date with Ken and his spouse (standard).
What is more, it should be noted that a customer is someone who buys goods or services. This implies that only a seller—not a buyer—can have customers. Thus, you should quit instructing your maid to purchase foodstuffs from your customer. Not just that, it is about time you ceased confusing a ‘troubleshooter’ with a ‘troublemaker’. While the former proffers solutions to problems, the latter foments trouble. Again, a sadist, as the name may readily suggest, is not someone who is sad. S/he, indeed, is someone who derives pleasure from hurting others. In addition, refrain from referring to a single lady or a bachelor girl, particularly one who intends to get married, as a ‘spinster’. The foregoing designation is perceived as uncomplimentary in standard English. Similarly, while to dupe is to deceive or trick, a dupe is a victim of deception. Therefore, if a person successfully dupes you, you become a dupe. Also, a tout, who sells tickets for major events, should not be mistaken for a lout, who is a hoodlum. Last but not least, ‘lousy’ is synonymous with ‘awful’ or ‘terrible’. It does not describe a talkative or loquacious being.
This treatise has discussed some important areas of lexical extensions in the English language, within the ambit of Nigerian English. Hence, the onus is on the readership to be deliberate about their lexical choices.
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