Sayings and idioms that make me proud to be a Nigerian
As much as I complain about my raggedy third world country, I have to say I love her and her people. Impatient and Indisciplined as we can sometimes be we are still some of the most kind, helpful, hilarious people I’ve ever known.
And by far my favorite thing about us is our rich and colorful use of language. Have you ever had an Igbo man toast you or an old Yoruba woman abuse you? It’s in those moments that you realize that Nigerian are truly a creative people.
Since I moved back 10 years ago, there have probably been hundreds of phrases that have piqued my fancy and tickled my funny bone. But here are 5 of my favorites:
Na me kill Jesus?
This is one of those phrases that had me ROLLING. I still remember the first day I heard it. My friend and I were sitting in my car, discussing her latest exploits in the murky waters that are the Lagos dating scene.
She’d been telling me about some guy who she’d allowed to court her (despite not being too into him) because she’d been having a dry spell. The guy had been acting really demanding of late, insisting that she was not “submissive” enough. (that’s a whole other story) She was complaining that being a woman in Nigeria is basically punishment, when she let the gold nugget pass by her lips. “I…
