Gambian English vs English English. Well during one of my family visit to The Gambia, my daughter said to her Gambian based friend please dont be silly and guess what her friend went mad accusing my daughter of using profanity on her. Again last night I heard some of our people stating the the word idiot is an insult. Then one time I said to someone what the person said was nonsense and once again I was found wanting in the sense it was connoted as an abusive word. Well fellow Gambians foremost it will be good to remind ourselves English language is not native to us and thus its understandable if we misconstrue meaning of certain words. However, that in itself shouldnt stop us making efforts to clear those misconceptions. Thus, a gentle reminder to all that words like idiot, silly widely seen as swear words by many Gambians aint swear words. Yes the term idiot is impolite but the word itself came from a Greek word describing how politicians back then were unprofessional and wrong in the way they spoke. Its a way of shutting someone by telling them they are being idiotic. Based on this premise its not abusive for anyone to call Dr Baba Ceesay an idiot, based on outrageously unethical words he said which to me defy Islamic preachings. I stand to be corrected on this post but it would be useful if we avoid wrongly misinterpreting certain words. If in doubt please ask for none of us have monopoly over knowledge. Jumaah Mubarak Gambia.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 10:16:09 +0000
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