Wazobia Alert! Somehow, political arguments on here of late, seem to eventually degenerates to tribalism virtually all the time. One thing, among many, that this forthcoming election did, is bring ethnic sentiments to the fore. Whenever a political argument gets heated among persons of different ethnic backgrounds, stereotypical words like, almajiri, ofe mmanu, iyamiri, baby factory, aboki and mallam start flying, somersaulting, kungfuing and kicking about. What I dont understand is why some of these words connote offense even though its otherwise. Some are just like calling a spade a spade. This war of ethnic stereotypical profiling with words has always been there. Even before I cried nwiaa nwiaa after leaving the mansion in my Mas tummy. Well, I cant remember using any of such stereotypical words on anyone of a different ethnicity since I know myself. Thats by the way anyways. Aboki = Friend Ofe mmanu = Oily soup Inyamiri = From Nyem mmiri which is give me water according to those who said it came about after the Biafran war when easterners were seeking refuge in other lands and were begging for water. Mallam = A title given to a man Learned in Koranic studies. Almajiri = The poor ones I think Baby factory = ??? Ehen, how does calling a Yoruba man ofe mmanu translate to insult really? I served in Oyo state to know that they cook soup with much more oil relatively. So why does the insulter thinks that term is insulting and the recipient feels insulted? Isnt that like saying the obvious that aint a bad thing? *shrugs* I dunno. How does calling a Hausa man aboki or mallam becomes insulting? And why would the person addressing a northerner as such, feel theres anything offensive about that? And why would the northerner feel offended? *shrugs* I dunno. From their meaning above, theyre noble words rather of Hausa language. Then almajiri. As much as this one could be insulting, at least theres a connection between the word and the tribe its used on. It is their own term and language. Its not as if anyone of other tribe coined the word. Then comes inyamiri. This one can be said to be insulting and offensive to an Easterner, judging from how it came about. Na this one be the correct insult among them, to me. Now comes Product of a baby factory. I saw this one, for the first time, on zuckerville. I thought it was a personal insult to the particular Igbo guy that was involved in that argument. I saw it for quite a number of times, before I realized its another stereotypical word to the Igbos. I dunno what it means, but after seeing much of it, I had ask someone if theres any factory in Aba where babies are manufactured. And if there is, why hasnt the whole world (science community especially) recognize this novel feat and invention? Well, theres no factory like that anywhere in the East. So, biko, what does a product of a baby factory means? I need to know whats intended by the insult Anybody with answer?
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 06:06:27 +0000