Nigerians\u00a0have this obscure gift\u00a0of coming up\u00a0with words, phrases and tenses\u00a0that will suit their communication. Be it in pidgin, slang words or their native\u00a0tongue, Nigerians are never in short supply of “coined” words that justify its usage per time. This article brings to the fore, 10\u00a0correct\u00a0English\u00a0words misused by Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Electioneering campaign: <\/strong>It is commonplace to hear statements like this in Nigeria, especially from the media. What is wrong with this phrase? It is outright tautology! \u201cElectioneering\u201d and \u201cPolitical campaign\u201d mean the same thing. It is either \u201celectioneering\u201d or \u201ccampaign.\u201dThe two shouldn’t be used together.<\/p>\n Alumni:<\/strong>\u00a0In its nonstandard use in Nigeria, \u201calumni\u201d is an all-purpose term for a person who has graduated from a school (secondary, university, institute, etc). But in its true sense, \u201calumni\u201d is the plural form of alumnus (for males) and alumna (for females). These days, in order to avoid the confusion, people just say or write \u201calum.\u201d<\/p>\n Gist:<\/strong>\u00a0This is one of the commonest correct English words misused by Nigerians at will. We use this word in Nigeria\u00a0to mean chit-chat or gossip (example: I have a gist for you). We even add the suffix “ed” to make it a verb (example: she\u00a0gisted me about\u00a0her new boyfriend.) This is absolutely senseless in Standard\u00a0English. The word \u201cgist\u201d is a correct English noun which means \u201cthe theme of a speech or literary work or most vital part of some idea or experience\u201d (example: the gist of\u00a0Christianity is Jesus Christ). Other words for gist\u00a0could be\u00a0nitty-gritty, substance, core, nucleus etc.<\/p>\n Go-slow:<\/strong>\u00a0The word go-slow exists, but not in the way Nigerians use it. A \u201cgo-slow,\u201d in the Nigerian context, refers to 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. The preferred words to use when describing sluggish road traffic are \u201ctraffic jam,\u201d \u201ctraffic congestion,\u201d \u201cgridlock,\u201d and \u201chold-up.\u201d<\/p>\n Mediocre:<\/strong>\u00a0People are always being referred to as \u201cmediocres\u201d in Nigeria. But in Standard English, the word \u201cmediocre\u201d means \u201cmoderate to inferior in quality\u201d if applied to things, or \u201clacking exceptional quality or ability\u201d if applied to human beings. It is an adjective and not a noun and so it cannot be used in place of a person, place or thing. You can only say \u201cShe is a mediocre nurse,\u201d but not \u201cthe nurse is a mediocre.\u201d<\/p>\n Opportune: <\/strong>When we use the word \u201copportune\u201d in Nigeria, we do so in relation to the word \u201copportunity.\u201d\u00a0We add the suffix \u201ced\u201d to give it a feel of something from the past. You often hear people say, \u201cI was opportuned to be in London last week\u201d and so on. The truth is that there is nothing like \u201copportuned\u201d anywhere in the Standard English. The correct word is \u201copportune.\u201d It is an adjective; therefore it has no past tense. However, some verbs (participles) can function as adjectives or adverbs in a sentence. For instance, the verbs, fattened, overwhelmed, amused, upset and mystified are all participles. The word \u201copportune\u201d means appropriate or well-timed.\u00a0 (Example: \u201cthe opportune arrival of the ambulance saved his life\u201d) The error arises perhaps, from thinking that \u201copportune\u201d is a derivative of \u201copportunity.\u201d It is not.<\/p>\n Upturn:\u00a0<\/strong>Nigerians use this word to mean \u201creverse\u201d or \u201coverturn.\u201d The word \u201cupturn\u201d is a correct English word which means an upward movement or improvement in business activity, etc when used as a noun (example: Since he became chairman, there has been an upturn in the accounts). When the word is rendered as \u201cupturned\u201d (that is, used as an adjective), it is traditionally used as a synonym for \u201cturned upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n Well done: <\/strong>Our use of the phrase \u201cwell done\u201d as a form of salutation for someone who is working is peculiarly Nigerian. In Standard English, \u201cwell done\u201d is an adjective which means, “carried out satisfactorily or thoroughly cooked”, especially, meat. Example: The work was well done, Allow the food to be well done.<\/p>\n You are (highly) welcome:\u00a0<\/strong>Nigerians use this phrase\u00a0as a grand way of saying “welcome.” But in Standard English, the phrase “you are welcome” is only supposed to be said as a polite response to “thank you.” It will confuse an American or Briton if you say “you are welcome” to them when they didn’t say “thank you” to you. You can only use the single word, “welcome” to show a warm reception of visitor on his arrival to a place and not the phrase, “you are welcome.”<\/p>\n Smoothen:\u00a0<\/strong>Does the word \u201csmoothen\u201d exist? Well, only in informal, nonstandard American English. In Standard English, \u201csmooth\u201d is both an adjective and a verb.\u201d For instance, where we would say, \u201cthe ministerial nominee bribed the senators to smoothen the way toward his confirmation,\u201d educated American and British speakers would replace \u201csmoothen\u201d with \u201csmooth.\u201d<\/p>\n There are more correct English words misused\u00a0by Nigerians. Having learnt these ones, we trust that you will desist from using them wrongly again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigerians\u00a0have this obscure gift\u00a0of coming up\u00a0with words, phrases and tenses\u00a0that will suit their communication. Be it in pidgin, slang words or their native\u00a0tongue, Nigerians are never in short supply of “coined” words that justify its usage per time. This article brings to the fore, 10\u00a0correct\u00a0English\u00a0words misused by Nigerians. Electioneering campaign: It is commonplace to hear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[325],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n