Mo Respect Yin, Șugbọn, Agbaya Ni Yin! There was a time in my teens when I watched Yorùbá movies and shows in order to improve my understanding of the language and I vividly remember this statement from one of them: Mo respect yin, șugbọn, agbaya ni yin. It is anyones guess why the young lady in the movie said that to the uncle she was speaking to with barely concealed disdain. I am rolling on the floor laughing... ROTFL. Not really. Just in my mind. The memory of the uncles mouth, open in astonishment... Translating that statement into English will take some doing because Yorùbás have the unique style as far as I know of being able to insult a person while still showing regard for their social status. Here goes... I really do have respect you but you are a buffoon... sir/ma! I have tried to convey the feeling behind those words in my translation. It is the only way I know how to let non Yorùbá speakers understand the incongruity within it. Others may fare better. Two other examples are: Ko ni daa fun yin lailai and ori yin fọ I remember in high school at Afro Compro, Ikere Ekiti, Nigeria, seeing juniors having no other means of exacting revenge on a senior who had wronged them saying those words as they ran away... out of reach! Those two I will allow others to translate in the comments section if they want to. They are just more extreme examples that I am done with. I am not using them further in this discourse as they are curses. I do not intend to curse anyone at all. Yin in Yorùbá is a term that shows regard for the subject in a sentence. So its use in the same sentence aimed at insulting that subject is an oxymoron right? With due respect to the political elders in Nigeria, ehm... Mo respect yin, șugbọn, agbaya ni yin... For what you have put Nigerians through by being myopic, selfishly holding onto tribalism, not thinking of the future and mortgaging your childrens lives by so doing... Mo respect yin, șugbọn, agbaya ni yin. If you continue to use divisive means to protect your own selfish interests then even though... Mo respect yin... agbaya ni yin. There seems to be quite a few daddy agbayas, mommy agbayas, uncle agbayas, auntie agbayas, broda agbayas and sista agbayas in Nigeria today! Having said all that, what is the exact translation for Agbaya?
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 19:11:08 +0000
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