alj harem:

mumu

jonathan is already asleep, i think u should go to bed tooo

Mallam, do you know if I am in America or Australia?
Have you considered the banana and omege3 rich diet I recommended for you on the other thread?

Beaf:

Seriously dude, the chances are 99.99% that I do.
I can cope with everything your lil brain can throw at me, from math to fine art, from physics to biology, from history to inventions, from scientific papers to patents. To you, I am like a living encyclopedia, I can draw better than you and freeze you with abstract math.

Dude, I'm fcking red hot!

The rest of your post is simply a long winded way of throwing in the towel, so it isn't worth a pinch of salt. But why start a rude argument only to throw in the towel?

PS: If you had started out in a civil way, we would never have headed down this route

Lol@ the bolded. Don't even dream that it could be so, you might regret it. From the immense amount of time you spend on Nairaland compared to me it would actually be physically impossible for you to be as adept at me in most of those areas, regardless of all the help the internet could give you, especially in physics. I stay in the lab. You stay on nairaland. if actually tasked with explaining, in terms of physics (not watered down or simplified either, but from first principles) an actual unusual scientific phenomenon or any non-obvious physical principle playing out in real life, you would be at a loss and your beloved google couldn't help you. It would be highly amusing to me if somebody who reasons like you did in this thread had any actual competence at what you called "abstract math" (lol @ calling it that), but there's no way to verify across the internet that you even know how to tie your shoes, let alone construct a simple mathematical proof, so I could care less about your claims.

How is it throwing in the towel to correct the notion that you or anyone else was ever calling you a monkey whenever the word tribe was used. I didn't start an argument. I called a silly story what it was. Step up your bullshit detector and we won't have to go down this route in the future. Later.

ethnicity

–noun, plural -ties.
1. ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.
2. an ethnic group: Representatives of several ethnicities were present.

tribe

–noun
1. any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.
2. a local division of an aboriginal people.
3. a division of some other people.

Deleted.

Chai!

Another useless thread . . . .

^^that is why there is such a LONG list of problems in Africa. People are so willing to criticize and hurl insults.

@ topic. Absolutely not. The word itself is not the issue. It is rather the attitudes of people that is. As a people/human race we tend to brush the real issues under the rug and pluck out those without any significance to feel as though we are making progress. The thing is as a black Jamaican-American woman living in the United States. In America, we are told to view the world as "colorless" and see things and people in a 'colorblind' fashion, but honestly would my not mentioning race and being politically correct erase the the past, hatred, or my skin color for that matter? No. Instead we should embrace the differences, promote tolerance and publicly/privately denounce separatists. The same thing should be considered with Nigerians. Why should someone who is Ibo, Hausa, or Yoruba have to "hide" that fact? They should be able to claim their ethnicity without any quarrel. Any politician preaching hate or tribalism should be banished, but those seeking coexistence should be promoted/ supported.

@OP ha! fresh air, There are more of us than I thought. . .

Keep teaching them. Next, we need to get those racist foreign embassies to remove the word from their condescending forms, if you don't ask Italians what tribe they belong to why are you asking my people?

Why are people mentioning the Europeans here. The British know that the word tribe is derogatory, they don't use it for themselves and they stopped using it for Nigeria after independence. No British refer to any where/people in Nigeria as tribe, be it BBC or British newspaper, they always used ethnic group. It's Nigerians themselves who refer to themselves as tribes, even in national dailies and television debates.

malabite:

Why are people mentioning the Europeans here. The British know that the word tribe is derogatory, they don't use it for themselves and they stopped using it for Nigeria after independence. No British refer to any where/people in Nigeria as tribe, be it BBC or British newspaper, they always used ethnic group. It's Nigerians themselves who refer to themselves as tribes, even in national dailies and television debates.

You must be living on Mars because the british and europeans still 100% do refer to African Nations as tribes. You seriously must be a martian for saying what you just said.

malabite, you're broadly correct as concerns the British. (Not the Americans though). The problem was that the British employed the term in referring to our people during their stay, and when they left, they somewhat stopped using the term in their country while our people just continued with it.

It's a bit like the N word in America. After the whites dropped its use (in public discourse at least), many black folk continued to use it to describe one another!!

Will you also ban the variants of tribe like: tryb, trybe, tr!be, trib£, trib€, tr ibe, trib e, tr1be, t ribe, etc?

slap1:

Will you also ban the variants of tribe like: tryb, trybe, tr!be, trib£, trib€, tr ibe, trib e, tr1be, t ribe, etc?

good question 
Why is tribe considered derogatory because it's also ascribed to a group of monkey?
how abt a pride of lions?
It's just a means of identifying smaller groups within a larger more stately one. just teach ppl how to use it more precisely & correctly. Surely to say ethnic group in place of tribe would b wrong, like somebody pointed out, u can't replace tribal mark with ethnic mark.

With immediate effect

to my own understanding, the word tribe means , a society or division of a society whose members have ancestry, customs, beliefs, and leadership in commom.
and this definition best describe us. Some words have more than 1 meaning, why would some pple choose to reason upside down and pick the worst meaning to the word? Infact, how can you now prove to the world that you are not really monkeys?

adagz are you a pessimistic type of person? I am NOT throwing stones I am simply asking. *hides rocks behind back*

I'm surprised some people do not know the origin of "Esobe". I think I've known this since I was 6/7 years old.

Ban the word ''Tribe''? For what reason?

Like many other words [Example : race], 'Tribe' has different meanings and, the user of the word knows what he means when he uses it.
Tribe: –noun
1. any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc

Which dictionary limits the meaning of the word 'Tribe' to monkeys, alone?
When I want to refer to a troop of monkeys, I could use 'Tribe' as well as I could also use it to refer to a class or set of persons, esp. one with strong common traits or interests.

Do we also ban the word 'Mob' as, it means ''a disorderly or riotous crowd of people'' and also, '' a herd or drove of animals''?
When I refer to a crowd as 'Flock', should they be offended because 'Flock' also means 'a number of animals of one kind that are herded together eg: goat'?

If every word that has a disparaging meaning must be banned on NL, we can as well stick to communicating in vernacular.
Tribe stays!

nawaoh!!!!!!!!!!!1i no go use am again oh!

@ OP are you in any way related to the infamous Dora ?

L. KRavitz:

@ OP are you in any way related to the infamous Dora ?

helep me ask am o.
wat r we gonna ban next? mayb ban english language.

Ban the use of tribe on NL? @ Op, I sure do feel your sensitivity at ensuring that we do not allow ourselves to be degraded in the 21st century and thanks for the exposition, but am wondering, is that the only word that should be banned on NL?

what about all the abusive and wicked-sounding words that folks throw at each other on NL which are less demeaning than the innocent-sounding ''tribe'' we are throwing tantrums about?? The members and board of MOD do have a whole lot of words to ban with regards to this. With all due respect, seems like an exercise in,

Tribe oooo, Ethnicity ooo, Nation ooooo. It all come down to our attitude, our perception and who we really are. The question is who are you. What ever people call you should not bother you, unless they are saying the truth

A tribe of monkeys.
laff no gree me ooo ! ! !

if that would help the country nigeria then they should go ahead,

I agree. 'Tribe' is a misleading word

Colonial baggage.

Ethnic groups in Nigeria can consist of more than 45 million people. 'Tribes' are small groups of primitive people living in a compound.

Some Ethnic groups are actually NOT ethnic, but rather political, such as the Yoruba who are constituted of several smaller nations, once united by a conquering Empire.

Many so-called 'Yorubas' have no Ethnic links to each other at all. They merely speak the same language. By this idiotic logic, we should be in the same 'Tribe' as the british, since we were once part of the British empire and now speak (some form of, ) English.

The term 'Ethnic group' is also unsatisfactory but will have to do in place of 'Tribe'.

By the way, no Nigerian textbook says 'tribe'. From primary school we have been taught the term 'Ethnic group'. Nigerians are just so easily brainwashed by western media. Afterall *they* invented the term 'tribalism'.

okeyxyz:

good question 
Why is tribe considered derogatory because it's also ascribed to a group of monkey?
how abt a pride of lions?
It's just a means of identifying smaller groups within a larger more stately one. just teach ppl how to use it more precisely & correctly. Surely to say ethnic group in place of tribe would b wrong, like somebody pointed out, u can't replace tribal mark with ethnic mark.

Your pride of lions example way off mark and has absolutely zero to do with the current argument. Do you describe yourself as belonging to a pride?
As for replacing tribal marks with ethnic mark, I've only ever heard that funny suggestion on these pages. There is a perfectly acceptable term that is used in all sensible references (academic, political etc); the word is "scarification."

Open your mind for some education. Check out scarification on Google; http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-gb%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7TSEA_en&q=Scarification&aq=f&aqi=g1g-c1g2g-c2g4&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Check it out on Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarification

Except you are a monkey, do not accept the derogatory word, tribe.

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.

Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups (see clan and kinship).

Some theorists hold that tribes represent a stage in social evolution intermediate between bands and states. Other theorists argue that tribes developed after, and must be understood in terms of their relationship to, states.

Some argue that its connotations are used as a way of attaching "backwardness" and the racist notion of primitive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe

The bad thing about the word tribe is the tribalism and prejudice that is practice by the so call tribal groups. using the word ethnic group would not change our tribal bahaviours good or bad.

Bankong said:

The bad thing about the word tribe is the tribalism and prejudice that is practice by the so call tribal groups. using the word ethnic group would not change our tribal bahaviours good or bad.

So why don't the people who taught you the word use it for themselves, or don't they have their own divisions and prejudice? Even in the UK there's serious prejudice against Irish, Scots, and vice versa.  And I hope you realise that 5 times more Europeans died in conflict among themselves in the 20th century than Africans?

Whether you wish to bury your head in the sand or not, the fact is words do carry connotations, and where the meaning of a term is inapplicable to the people it is directed, you have to ask yourself, why persist in using it?

Also, the poll options are inappropriate: 'Ban the word tribe' versus 'freedom of speech'?

Why are these two options not provided where words like ''r.ape'' are concerned?

Where is my ''freedom of speech'' to state on this forum that a man r.aped a woman?

Instead, the word is banned and ''despoil'' comes up instead?

Where is my freedom of speech there, or is it only when it's time to degrade and dehumanize Africans that we remember we have ''freedom of speech'' to do so?

lord vamon:

nawaoh!!!!!!!!!!!1i no go use am again oh!

Good! One down, plenty more to go.

Rossike and Beaf, keep teaching them. there is hope for my people.

chyz:

You must be living on Mars because the british and europeans still 100% do refer to African Nations as tribes. You seriously must be a martian for saying what you just said.

@ Chyz
Go to BBC website, listen to British politicians speak, or listen to any British person, you will never hear him/her refer to any of the Nigerian ethnic groups as tribe. There is no British-based website or forum where you can hear them use tribe for any Nigerian or British people. You can't hear English tribe, or Irish tribe, or Scotish tribe. So they know it is not right to use it for Nigerians. It's only Nigerians that refer to themselves as tribes. Read Nigerian dailies and you will see politicians use it for themselves. Listen to debates on Nigerian TV and you will hear them use tribe. Atimes someone will proudly say " I am from the Igbo tribe". wtf!! Yet you say it's the British who call Igbos tribe.

I'm not saying the British never ever used tribe for the ethnic groups in Nigeria. Of course they did, during the slave trade and prior to independence.

Yes, I agree the Europeans own the word, but they shouldnt teach Nigerians when to and when not to use it. They also own words like i.d.i.ot, s.t.u.p.i.d, l.u.n.a.t.i.c, etc. If you decide to use the words to describe yourself, don't blame the Europeans for inventing it

I am still of the opinion that we are all ethnic groups.

Yoruba is an ethnic group made up of different tribal nations. The same goes for the Igbo who are made up of different tribal nations.