![]() ![]() it’s full of beauty, sadness, and keen observations on life in Nigeria and in general, and I recommend it to your attention before it vanishes away at the end of the month.Īddendum (June 2008): Correspondent Adim alerts me to Naija Lingo, “a dictionary for people who want definitions to Nigerian words or slang, names and phrases and created by the people (you) who know them. I was led to this site by investigating a Lagos term used in teju cole, a temporary blog reporting on a visit home by a Nigerian long resident in the U.S. ![]() Also – Standing like Standard Bank, Looking like Lucozade and Dey like you no dey. Being idle e.g You juss dey there laik Dele. I am barely surviving e.g Man juss Dey laik Dele. dat car dey well-well.ĭey laik Dele: (Dele is a Yoruba name) 1. The three major Nigerian languages namely Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa feature prominently in Pidgin English in general, however with Lagos being historically a Yoruba city ‘Lagos Pidgin’ consists of a disproportionately high number of Yoruba words.Ī couple of entries will suggest the flavor:ĭey: 1. In this compilation I have limited myself to what I would call ‘Lagos Pidgin’ as this is what I am familiar with. With Nigeria having about 250 tribes in all, one finds a lot of variation in the type of Pidgin English spoken by the different ethnic groups. It is a language made up of elements of the Queen’s English and the local dialects. Pidgin English is spoken widely across Nigeria. I have come across yet another of the internet’s little-known lexicographical resources, Babawilly’s Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases:
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