Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Ghanaians and the English Language/Insults

Ghanaians take the English language very seriously. Therefore, things that we may say "by the way" here in America or take very lighty can cause great offense. For a example, never tell a Ghanaian that he/she is foolish. Kai! Kataka will definitely burst. According to Wikipedia (whose defintions are now under much scrutiny but anyway....we will proceed) the actual definition of foolish is:

silly or not wise. A fool is a person who is stupid or easily tricked.

The response is usually, "withdraw your statement" or "ohhhhhhhh, so you are calling me foolish, ehn?" This insult is not take lightly so try to reserve it for serious times. Being stupid is not taken lightly by Ghana peeps.

The next insult is "Go a you," often used to make one feel stupid and to want to disappear. It is prolly equivalent to "go to hell, " "get out of my face" and the like. If you ever hear this, have no doubt that the user intends to insult you well well.

Another thing that Ghana peeps might use to make you feel stupid is "who sent you?" Here is a scenario:
You have done something which results in negative repercussions. You go and talk to
someone hoping for sympathy. Depending on your level of involvement in reaching the
negative end result, the response might be, "ahhhhhhhh, but who sent you?"
Dang, if you did not already feel stupid, you will at that point.

Hwoo!
This is only a sound effect but it speaks volumes. This is often used to signify that your foolishness is beyond words it is often worse than words. It often accompanied by the roll of eyes and maybe even a turning of the body in disgust.

Please add more in the comments section with your big heads!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eh!! But don't forget to include:

1 - "fre ho";

2 - "way nem ti si ___" you can fill in the blank;

3 - "aboa";

4 - for the Ga's out there, "oh nyeh";

5 - don't forget the sucking of teeth, wow, there are no words for that

Yen Kasa (Let's Talk) said...

Excellent additions, Bunny!

Unknown said...

Wo Mamme tw3 wai kwasia adey Ashaiman Valco flat adey wej u aboa

Unknown said...

What do it mean

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