ESCOBAR: CREATING NEW VOCABULARY THROUGH IGNORANCE

ESCOBAR: CREATING NEW VOCABULARY THROUGH IGNORANCE

            It was about fifteen years ago now, during my first ever travel out of my state. There was an international friendly, and I happen to watch it all, but one of my host cousins wasn’t around. When he came back, being an ardent lover of the game, he asked me how the game went. I replied with enthusiasm because we won the game, and in my happiness revealed that the second goal was through Escobar! He was dumbfounded, was Escobar part of the team that played against us? NO! It was in my explanation that they got to know that what I called Escobar, was actually an own goal! How did I came across Escobar for own goal? Escobar was the name of the player of a country that scored an own goal against his team and that goal was the goal of the match… meaning they lost through his goal. I heard rumor that he was shot dead by a fan at the airport on his return to the country. But here in Nigeria, his name became synonymous to an own goal.

            Also there was a word in my mother tongue that neither sound like a foreign word or my language: Penkele esi! What could this mean? Hmmm, I got to know during history class in government. His name was Adelabu Adegoke, he was a politician of the highest order in my clan. At a time he was involved in a law suit, and on the Judge ruling in his favour  commented that the case was a Peculiar Mess, on getting outside the court room for celebration, the traditional drummer and praise singers find it hard to digest  Peculiar Mess, and so for their own variant: Penkele mesi. Over time the ignorance give way as the word stuck with the names of the man, and came to be regarded as a terminology for worthless things or disgraceful. Indeed its Penkele meesi!

         

  Somebody decided to try and ask some "silly" question from the celebrities in my society, and his question is to give the name for a particular children playing instrument especially in the likes of swings, seesaw etc. it actually driven like a car because it has a steering but only goes round. Many called it Jangilover epo motor! But what does this means? It makes absolutely no sense… until I was told after thirty years of calling it the same that it is jingle over like a motor that we end up calling Jangilover epo motor! What a difference!

            The last that I would mention here is a rhyme song we use to sing when we were children. Its error is in the most melodious part: Sandalili, Sandalili! What is the meaning of that? It was currently revealed to me to means Standard Living, Standard Living!

If you are just getting to know one or more from this write up, please comment!

If you know of more words of this nature, kindly share them here!