I've always loved knowledge.
Gathering up little nuggets of otherwise irrelevant data has always been my thing.
Like knowing the first man to receive a telephone call or trying to find out why for whatever reason Genevieve Nnaji has made it her life's mission to attend every wedding in a 10,000 kilometer radius from her!
I also love words.
I try as much as I can to learn a new word everyday.
No,I don't sit down with a cold bottle of Trophy Lager in one hand,nose in an Oxford dictionary and the other hand gingerly stroking my ignorance and my apparent joblessness as some 'writers' tend to.
I do it the right way.Read as much as I can and check up the unrecognisables.
About that,something really funny happened yesterday.
Not so sure it would interest you but when did that ever stop me from telling you?
So,my 'Word for the day' was 'Star'.
Yes,we all assume we know what a Star means!
But while perusing a popular entertainment blog,vastly popular than mine I must say,I came across a piece where Nigerian artiste/'living off-er' Kayswitch was referred to as a Pop Star.
Well..................................that got me scurrying off fast as you like,almost the same way Wande Coal must have while trying to escape from the studio on the day he 'stole' said song,to check my dictionary.
And to my relief and that of a whole nation(I presume),Star the adjective still does not refer to a no-hit wonder brother of Nigeria's favourite entertainer!
Anyway,while on my never ending sojourn for intellectual gigantism,I came across a comment on Linda Ikeji's blog and true,I'm an avowed LIBer but I don't go there for the gossip.
I just go to check who's advertising and make more money for Linda.
In the comment was a word that caught my attention,'Ofe mmanu'.
Slow down Callistus,you won't find it in any dictionary.
Not even the 1980 Websters your Local Government Chairman just distributed.
It caught my attention not because it was exotic but because of the regularity with which it has been turning up online.
It literally means 'Oily soup' or something in the range but has since transcended and become a derogatory term by which Yoruba people are addressed.
Just like 'Aboki' literally means friend but it's never friendly when we yell it at Ahmed Musa for missing another open goal!
Don't get me wrong,a few derogatory terms amongst friends never hurt no one.
Infact I'd readily call my good friend Uche an 'Okoro' if he tries dipping his hand in my bowl of Nkwobi.
But going through comment boards on popular blogs nationwide,the rise in tribal animosity is increasingly disturbing.
Anything that cannot be explained by rational thought is attributed to tribal deficiencies.
When a young man in an act of greed is caught and paraded at the Lagos Port for attempting to bring in AK-47'S and RPG'S alongside his container of bathroom tiles and is coincidentally named Uche(Not my friend Uche of the above mentioned Nkwobi fiasco oh),it is hurriedly attributed to the willingness of the Ibos to make a quick buck by all means possible!
When a middle aged woman named Ajoke is caught at the international airport with a few grains of cocaine in her head tie and a few more in her grand kid's diapers,the rationale is that all Yoruba's are drug peddlers.
If these thoughts are from a 75 year old woman in Anambra who lost a husband and two kids to the war and recently lost her eldest child to the never ending carnage in the North,I'd understand.
Or from a husband who had just lost the mother of his children to imported fake drugs,I'd get it.
Pain and loss are excusable reasons for individual irrational generalizations.
But when young,supposedly over educated(all these extra years in University must count for something) Nigerians,whose main problem,though not yet identified by them,is the generalized ,without any form of preference,underdevelopment of their country by their leaders,harbour these thoughts,the future of this country can't but seem bleaker than that of Banky W's scalp ever growing hair again!
Admittedly,Nigeria's amalgamation in 19...........long ago brought together strange bedfellows.
The Nigerian Civil War of 19.........not so long ago fostered a divided nation.
While our parents and guardians have since nurtured these divisions by passing on tasty little helpings of tribal sentiments in an environment of economic lack.
Everyday we see the likes of Aliko Dangote,Femi Otedola and Tony Elumelu wining and dining,laughing wholeheartedly and hugging like long lost lovers in a bad romantic comedy while we the masses whose minds have been dulled by poor education,whose visions have been hampered by incessant blackouts and growths stunted by poor nutrition still despise our neighbours for irrelevant things like too much pepper in the stew or a penchant for wearing just singlets almost everywhere.
We have too many troubles and can't afford to add hate to it.
So young Nigeria,when next you are at the club and trying desperately to get into that beautiful girl's pants without giving a hoot where she comes from,remember this immortal piece of advice from Albert 'my cousin' Einstein 'If its good enough for you in the dark,its probably good enough for you in the open'!
P.S:Why are those Nkwobi bowls so shallow?????????
If we talk now they will call us tribalistic!
Pls follow @doctorotcod .He's on the Twitter!
Gathering up little nuggets of otherwise irrelevant data has always been my thing.
Like knowing the first man to receive a telephone call or trying to find out why for whatever reason Genevieve Nnaji has made it her life's mission to attend every wedding in a 10,000 kilometer radius from her!
I also love words.
I try as much as I can to learn a new word everyday.
No,I don't sit down with a cold bottle of Trophy Lager in one hand,nose in an Oxford dictionary and the other hand gingerly stroking my ignorance and my apparent joblessness as some 'writers' tend to.
I do it the right way.Read as much as I can and check up the unrecognisables.
About that,something really funny happened yesterday.
Not so sure it would interest you but when did that ever stop me from telling you?
So,my 'Word for the day' was 'Star'.
Yes,we all assume we know what a Star means!
But while perusing a popular entertainment blog,vastly popular than mine I must say,I came across a piece where Nigerian artiste/'living off-er' Kayswitch was referred to as a Pop Star.
Well..................................that got me scurrying off fast as you like,almost the same way Wande Coal must have while trying to escape from the studio on the day he 'stole' said song,to check my dictionary.
And to my relief and that of a whole nation(I presume),Star the adjective still does not refer to a no-hit wonder brother of Nigeria's favourite entertainer!
 |
| Phew!Your guys almost had me there Kay! |
Anyway,while on my never ending sojourn for intellectual gigantism,I came across a comment on Linda Ikeji's blog and true,I'm an avowed LIBer but I don't go there for the gossip.
I just go to check who's advertising and make more money for Linda.
 |
| Always confirm if your doctor is digging for information about your health or just checking Linda Ikeji's blog and ignoring you! |
In the comment was a word that caught my attention,'Ofe mmanu'.
Slow down Callistus,you won't find it in any dictionary.
Not even the 1980 Websters your Local Government Chairman just distributed.
It caught my attention not because it was exotic but because of the regularity with which it has been turning up online.
It literally means 'Oily soup' or something in the range but has since transcended and become a derogatory term by which Yoruba people are addressed.
Just like 'Aboki' literally means friend but it's never friendly when we yell it at Ahmed Musa for missing another open goal!
 |
| Are you asking for your brain back? |
Don't get me wrong,a few derogatory terms amongst friends never hurt no one.
Infact I'd readily call my good friend Uche an 'Okoro' if he tries dipping his hand in my bowl of Nkwobi.
But going through comment boards on popular blogs nationwide,the rise in tribal animosity is increasingly disturbing.
Anything that cannot be explained by rational thought is attributed to tribal deficiencies.
When a young man in an act of greed is caught and paraded at the Lagos Port for attempting to bring in AK-47'S and RPG'S alongside his container of bathroom tiles and is coincidentally named Uche(Not my friend Uche of the above mentioned Nkwobi fiasco oh),it is hurriedly attributed to the willingness of the Ibos to make a quick buck by all means possible!
When a middle aged woman named Ajoke is caught at the international airport with a few grains of cocaine in her head tie and a few more in her grand kid's diapers,the rationale is that all Yoruba's are drug peddlers.
If these thoughts are from a 75 year old woman in Anambra who lost a husband and two kids to the war and recently lost her eldest child to the never ending carnage in the North,I'd understand.
Or from a husband who had just lost the mother of his children to imported fake drugs,I'd get it.
Pain and loss are excusable reasons for individual irrational generalizations.
But when young,supposedly over educated(all these extra years in University must count for something) Nigerians,whose main problem,though not yet identified by them,is the generalized ,without any form of preference,underdevelopment of their country by their leaders,harbour these thoughts,the future of this country can't but seem bleaker than that of Banky W's scalp ever growing hair again!
Admittedly,Nigeria's amalgamation in 19...........long ago brought together strange bedfellows.
The Nigerian Civil War of 19.........not so long ago fostered a divided nation.
While our parents and guardians have since nurtured these divisions by passing on tasty little helpings of tribal sentiments in an environment of economic lack.
Everyday we see the likes of Aliko Dangote,Femi Otedola and Tony Elumelu wining and dining,laughing wholeheartedly and hugging like long lost lovers in a bad romantic comedy while we the masses whose minds have been dulled by poor education,whose visions have been hampered by incessant blackouts and growths stunted by poor nutrition still despise our neighbours for irrelevant things like too much pepper in the stew or a penchant for wearing just singlets almost everywhere.
We have too many troubles and can't afford to add hate to it.
 |
| The three guys even have their faces on our money!How appropriate! |
So young Nigeria,when next you are at the club and trying desperately to get into that beautiful girl's pants without giving a hoot where she comes from,remember this immortal piece of advice from Albert 'my cousin' Einstein 'If its good enough for you in the dark,its probably good enough for you in the open'!
P.S:Why are those Nkwobi bowls so shallow?????????
If we talk now they will call us tribalistic!
Pls follow @doctorotcod .He's on the Twitter!
