blakmonsta:

whats wrong with us here pidgin is a simplified version of a foreign language created to distinguish lower classes and poor people from the upper classes!

this is nonsense! our indigenous languages give us more identity than this horrific creation of colonial masters!

if you truly want to surpass the colonials you must master their language and elevate your own! not adopting a condescending, simplistic slave dialect as your NATIONAL TONGUE!!!!

But it was still created by the indigenes and not foreigners.

Is pidgin only spoken by the poor now?

What do you propose to be our national tongue?

who dey yan there sey pidgin nah lower class?

America carry speak i gwana gwana kill u meh meh, u nah call hi-up talk, now 9ja dey salivate with free flux u dey call am low class! I tire for some of una oh!

Bestglo:

i loff pidgin,it enables one to express himself the real way (the way e dey do am) and the listener can just get the message

@BESTGLO/LOLO 1 OF WAZOBIA FM
HW U DEY NW
u go sorprice say i no say na u dough i dey hardi listen 2 d station

It is a shame people who grow up speaking pidgin try their possible best to run away from the language example Mr Richard Mofe-Damijo and my wife who is Edo, we converse generally in English and Pidgin. So the other day in a super-market in London my wife was horrified when my 3 year old daughter shouted at me” oga come now”(my wife calls me ‘oga’ most times rather calling me by my name) my daughter was telling me to hurry up otherwise her and mother would leave me behind.

A lot of Nigerians and other Africans around just started laughing. My wife was clearly embarrassed, but I just said there is nothing to be ashamed off. I told my wife that no-how, no-how this child would speak like any other Britico kid when the time comes but pidgin is her heritage. My wife said which kind ye-ye heritage be that, 'poverty heritage'(I wonder why people equate pidgin with poverty) that she would have prefer her speaking Edo or Yoruba than speaking pidgin.

I LOVE PIGIN WITH PASSION, IF IT WERE USED IN OUR SCHOOLS THE RATE OF FAILURE WILL BE MINIMIZED. JUST SAYING , BUT TO BE FRANK, AM ABLE TO EXPRESS MYSELF IN PIGIN THAN IN ENGLISH.

According to CNN, Nigeria comes at no 5 for the sexiest spoken english. All thanks to pidgin and our own version of coining the english language

this is the same issue we had on my island (jamaica) about our patois.
some of the 'uppidy' negroes there and who've moved abroad act like they are ashamed
of our unique dialect language.

I say ABSOLUTELY! be VERY proud of your pidgin for the pidgin is a reflection of Nigerian history, people and culture.
We can learn a lot about a people's past and heritage based on their languages alone, believe it or not.

Kind of like we can hear the Germanic, Francophone, Latin; etc influences in the English language.

^^^ Nothing do you man. Rastafariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

blakmonsta:

whats wrong with us here pidgin is a simplified version of a foreign language created to distinguish lower classes and poor people from the upper classes!

this is nonsense! our indigenous languages give us more identity than this horrific creation of colonial masters!

if you truly want to surpass the colonials you must master their language and elevate your own! not adopting a condescending, simplistic slave dialect as your NATIONAL TONGUE!!!!

abegi carry go. If shame dey catch u speak ur own language make u switch country to oyinbo place. I'm sure if this was oyinbo produced u won't be calling it lower class. Us and our inferiority complex. U no go kill me oooo.

At OP nothing do you. Carry on.

I think we should be proud of it cos dat is wat distinquishes us from the world

I believe any body can speak the pigin/language/slang as much as they want, but it shouldn't be the official language of anything. We are not the only country that speaks pigin english believe it or not, and where is the proof that pigin originated from Nigeria. Speak pigin as much as you want, the only thing we can stand proud of is our individual languages.

Creole is bad for the education of the people. It might sound interesting but never helped to build the basic skill in speaking good English in children. So, it is nice to avoid it in early stage of a children's life and teach them how to master the use of basic English.

Pidgin English is interesting, though, not so good for the kids. If pidgin English must be use in large proportion there must be provision for materials in all education fields and come to be as other language like Spanish,Arabic,etc. But, I think there are little written works done in Pidgin English. Well, for the radio station thing, it is alright to serve some part of the community right.

I'm convinced Pidgin English is spoken by more people in Nigeria than any single language, because Pidgin crosses cultural lines and statuses.  I think it's a good thing, it's the one uniting thing in Nigeria (seeing that people still debate about being referred to as Nigerian.  A lot of people may not be able to read in their own vernacular or in English, but they can easily pick up and speak Pidgin English.

English as a national language does not exclude Pidgin as it is a form of English.  Most English-speaking countries have dialects.  Pidgin is just another dialect albeit with local influences, and remember Pidgin English is not only spoken in Nigeria or West Africa. Never be ashamed of adapting something and making it your own.

Meddler:

abegi carry go. If shame dey catch u speak your own language make u switch country to oyinbo place. I'm sure if this was oyinbo produced u won't be calling it lower class. Us and our inferiority complex. U no go kill me oooo.

At OP nothing do you. Carry on.

YOU ARE A COMPLETE EEDIOT. Your stupidity is compounded further by the fact that you couldnt even read what I wrote properly and understand that I am saying OUR INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ARE SUPERIOR TO THAT NONSENSE BROKEN ENGLISH CALLED PIDGIN. If I hear somebody speaking broken yoruba I FEEL LIKE SLAPPING THEM and the same goes for broken english

Pidgin is for morons who cannot grasp basic comprehension. Whatever language you speak, speak it properly. Many people have abandoned their native tongues for this disaster called PIDGIN which is just another way for the white man to laugh at you.

all4naija:

Creole is bad for the education of the people. It might sound interesting but never helped to build the basic skill in speaking good English in children. So, it is nice to avoid it in early stage of a children's life and teach them how to master the use of basic English.

Pidgin English is interesting, though, not so good for the kids. If pidgin English must be use in large proportion there must be provision for materials in all education fields and come to be as other language like Spanish,Arabic,etc. But, I think there are little written works done in Pidgin English. Well, for the radio station thing, it is alright to serve some part of the community right.

I hear you! If you teach children pidgin at an early age you risk retarding their intellectual growth. Pidgin is SIMPLIFIED, a child who learns it will HAVE TROUBLE ADJUSTING TO MORE COMPLEX CONSTRUCTS later in life. It is a nice language to use for relaxation, insults, or talking down to your househelp but FOR GODS SAKE not a national tongue unless you want us to be an international laughing stock.

MsDarkSkin:

this is the same issue we had on my island (jamaica) about our patois.
some of the 'uppidy' negroes there and who've moved abroad act like they are ashamed
of our unique dialect language.

I say ABSOLUTELY! be VERY proud of your pidgin for the pidgin is a reflection of Nigerian history, people and culture.
We can learn a lot about a people's past and heritage based on their languages alone, believe it or not.

Kind of like we can hear the Germanic, Francophone, Latin; etc influences in the English language. 

You cant learn sh1t about anyones history from pidgin except that they are empty in the brain. You can learn a LIFETIME of information from learning a proper Nigerian language. Start with Hausa, it's easy. Or meet me, and I'll teach you Yoruba. Have you heard a girl with a high tenor voice speaking urhobo?  I swear you will fall in love instantly!

KnowAll:

It is a shame people who grow up speaking pidgin try their possible best to run away from the language example Mr Richard Mofe-Damijo and my wife who is Edo, we converse generally in English and Pidgin. So the other day in a super-market in London my wife was horrified when my 3 year old daughter shouted at me” oga come now”(my wife calls me ‘oga’ most times rather calling me by my name)  my daughter was telling me to hurry up otherwise her and mother would leave me behind.

A lot of Nigerians and other Africans around just started laughing. My wife was clearly embarrassed, but I just said there is nothing to be ashamed off. I told my wife that no-how, no-how this child would speak like any other Britico kid when the time comes but pidgin is her heritage. My wife said which kind ye-ye heritage be that, 'poverty heritage'(I wonder why people equate pidgin with poverty) that she would have prefer her speaking Edo or Yoruba than speaking pidgin.

Your wife is correct.

Omo_Tier1:

who dey yan there sey pidgin nah lower class?

America carry speak i gwana gwana kill u meh meh,  u nah call hi-up talk,  now 9ja dey salivate with free flux u dey call am low class! I tire for some of una oh!

That is ebonics and it is just as regressive and silly as pidgin. American blacks who allow this speech to rule their daily lives just retar.d their own growth but there is an argument that since they cannot trace their origins that is all they have. We however have kicked the colonials out half a century ago, so we should bury pidgin in the same grave to which all the other nonsense they brought with them has been consigned!

If we want to keep the colonial's language IT IS OUR DUTY TO SPEAK IT AS WELL AS IF NOT BETTER THAN THEY DO. Broken languages of any kind are for the weak in brain.


Also, I have no problem with local/regional accents. Fake accents are worse than perfect grammar with a strong, proud, yoruba dialect spoken by a man who understands the deepest grammatical constructs of the yoruba language as well.

Pidgin is not an accent. It is a deliberate perversion of a language for purposes of simplicity. The white man didnt want to educate you properly so he gave you MONKEY TALK. "i dey go chop now. Big man, they come. I get big plate for house" WHAT THE HELL, IS THIS YOUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE??

Ben-10:

I am surprised so many people likes this. Personally, I hate pidgin. Some of the words are annoying to moi. Seriously.

lol

i love pidgin English

In Cameroon young people used to talk it as well but mixt with our own local language, I think this is not a shame but they shouldn't take it as a real way to express in official places

Taking a pride in a language? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

See people, I'd suggest you learn to speak good western english, then spanish, french, italian, and so on and so forth according to the globally competitive popularity.

We're already in the global age. We can't afford to isolate ourselves which such folly suggestions like making pidgin an official language.

I can just imagine if we were colonized by some other non-english speaking Country like Italy, Spain, France or the Dutch. Kai! We'd be way worse than the poo hole we call Nigeria now.

If you take pride in your language, then you're nothing but a silly elitist. Language is nothing but a method of communication. Don't put any other meaning into it.

^^ Well I partly agree with you but don't you think this is a way to communicate with something it belongs to them, I mean not imported? but yes I think for official duties or business they should take care of their language

Why can't we have pidgin English? Americans don't speak Queens English. They speak American, where words like "gooder", "stupider", "you got beat", excessive use of "like", and so on are spoken. Speaking American is a patriotic deal for Americans. In a country like Nigeria, where everyone is surrounded by shame thanks to greedy politicians, saying patriotism is needed is an understatement. Why can't they have something like a language to unite them?

Mexicans speak Mexican Spanish, not Traditional Spanish. Belgians speak Belgian Dutch and Belgian French, not Traditional Dutch and Traditional French. I don't see what the big deal is with pidgin.

i dey proud say i dey speak pigin english cuz,,,,, can you imagine that my australian friend dey always blow pigin english with me, if we dey chat or we dey talk 4 phone,,,,,  nna mehn na wah,,,,,, soon pigin go take over american slang  yo mehn,,,  now na nna mehn

Ogugua these people you're talking about are politically and economically more influent  than Nigeria, so when Nigeria will impose itself in a political International scale, then everything will follow

Mandarin lessons is increasing worldwide, and since China has emergent you see the link sister?

ogugua88:

Why can't we have pidgin English? Americans don't speak Queens English. They speak American, where words like "gooder", "stupider", "you got beat", excessive use of "like", and so on are spoken. Speaking American is a patriotic deal for Americans. In a country like Nigeria, where everyone is surrounded by shame thanks to greedy politicians, saying patriotism is needed is an understatement. Why can't they have something like a language to unite them?

Mexicans speak Mexican Spanish, not Traditional Spanish. Belgians speak Belgian Dutch and Belgian French, not Traditional Dutch and Traditional French. I don't see what the big deal is with pidgin.

We can have pidgin english but it should be known as a slang dialect and nothing more.

Elevating it to the status of national language is stupidit.y.

American English is an example- the accent is different but the depth is the same. Minor differences in structure here and there and you're golden.

I'm not saying we should speak with british accents. We should have our own accent and we should speak English to a high enough standard that the language has depth, structure and is suitable for use in written documents and literature

Not oversimplified slang-talk like pidgin.

pidgin, jive, ebonics, and whatever the jamaicans call their own slang dialect are all just that- slangs to make communicating with the lower classes easier, and treating them as anything else is idiocy.

Repubocrat:

Taking a pride in a language? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

If you take pride in your language, then you're nothing but a silly elitist. Language is nothing but a method of communication. Don't put any other meaning into it.

Shut up, troll. Our indigenous languages are far superior to any pidgin crap.

And languages are more than a method of communication. A person's diction represents their history, level of education, intellect and the depth of their character.

Nayah:
Ogugua these people you're talking about are politically and economically more influent  than Nigeria, so when Nigeria will impose itself in a political International scale, then everything will follow

Mandarin lessons is increasing worldwide, and since China has emergent you see the link sister?

I already know about the Mandarin. I saw a documentary on it lol.

Yes, they're politically and economically influent, but they didn't get their united. The first step, I think, to turning Nigeria around is by going in a positive direction as Nigerians, hand in hand. If pidgin English will unite us all, then let's take that route. So far, "I'm Igbo", "I'm Hausa", and "I'm Yoruba" has not been working lol.

blakmonsta:
We can have pidgin english but it should be known as a slang dialect and nothing more.

Elevating it to the status of national language is stupidit.y.

American English is an example- the accent is different but the depth is the same. Minor differences in structure here and there and you're golden.

I'm not saying we should speak with british accents. We should have our own accent and we should speak English to a high enough standard that the language has depth, structure and is suitable for use in written documents and literature

Not oversimplified slang-talk like pidgin.

pidgin, jive, ebonics, and whatever the jamaicans call their own slang dialect are all just that- slangs to make communicating with the lower classes easier, and treating them as anything else is idiocy.

who care

Pidgin is the only way a typical fulani herdsman from Maiduguri can talk and connect with the Ijaw man from Niger Delta . . . lets think about that!

niger delta pidgin english especially warri pidgin, is more queens lol

blakmonsta:

YOU ARE A COMPLETE EEDIOT. Your stupidity is compounded further by the fact that you couldnt even read what I wrote properly and understand that I am saying OUR INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ARE SUPERIOR TO THAT NONSENSE BROKEN ENGLISH CALLED PIDGIN. If I hear somebody speaking broken yoruba I FEEL LIKE SLAPPING THEM and the same goes for broken english

Pidgin is for morons who cannot grasp basic comprehension. Whatever language you speak, speak it properly. Many people have abandoned their native tongues for this disaster called PIDGIN which is just another way for the white man to laugh at you.



I hear you! If you teach children pidgin at an early age you risk retarding their intellectual growth. Pidgin is SIMPLIFIED, a child who learns it will HAVE TROUBLE ADJUSTING TO MORE COMPLEX CONSTRUCTS later in life. It is a nice language to use for relaxation, insults, or talking down to your househelp but FOR GODS SAKE not a national tongue unless you want us to be an international laughing stock.



You cant learn sh1t about anyones history from pidgin except that they are empty in the brain. You can learn a LIFETIME of information from learning a proper Nigerian language. Start with Hausa, it's easy. Or meet me, and I'll teach you Yoruba. Have you heard a girl with a high tenor voice speaking urhobo?  I swear you will fall in love instantly!

Your wife is correct.


That is ebonics and it is just as regressive and silly as pidgin. American blacks who allow this speech to rule their daily lives just retar.d their own growth but there is an argument that since they cannot trace their origins that is all they have. We however have kicked the colonials out half a century ago, so we should bury pidgin in the same grave to which all the other nonsense they brought with them has been consigned!

If we want to keep the colonial's language IT IS OUR DUTY TO SPEAK IT AS WELL AS IF NOT BETTER THAN THEY DO. Broken languages of any kind are for the weak in brain.


Also, I have no problem with local/regional accents. Fake accents are worse than perfect grammar with a strong, proud, yoruba dialect spoken by a man who understands the deepest grammatical constructs of the yoruba language as well.

Pidgin is not an accent. It is a deliberate perversion of a language for purposes of simplicity. The white man didnt want to educate you properly so he gave you MONKEY TALK. "i dey go chop now. Big man, they come. I get big plate for house" WHAT THE HELL, IS THIS YOUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE??

Dumb ass!!!!! Coming on here and displaying your level of ignorance. Pidgin as someone put it here is another dialect u dipstick. There's absolutely nothing wrong with speaking pidgin. Just like there is nothing wrong with speaking Igbo, yoruba or hausa or any dialect for that matter. Adapting it as an official language is not so far fetched. So go stick ur ignorant head up in someone's a** and let us exposed mind speak. Mumu!!!!

DJTee:

Pidgin is the only way a typical fulani herdsman from Maiduguri can talk and connect with the Ijaw man from Niger Delta . . . lets think about that!

Pidgin might unite two different ethnic Nigerians but Englsih will unite them both and more. It's a no-brainer.

blakmonsta:

pidgin, jive, ebonics, and whatever the jamaicans call their own slang dialect are all just that- slangs to make communicating with the lower classes easier, and treating them as anything else is idiocy.



Shut up, troll. Our indigenous languages are far superior to any pidgin crap.

And languages are more than a method of communication. A person's diction represents their history, level of education, intellect and the depth of their character.

Same elitist mentality.

People like you make me chuckle., because there's nothing funnier than a man that takes Pride in things he didn't even achieve. Only ignorant people take pride in attributes/cultures defaulted to them.

Just thank your lucky educated stars we got colonized by the british.

Nayah:

^^ Well I partly agree with you but don't you think this is a way to communicate with something it belongs to them, I mean not imported? but yes I think for official duties or business they should take care of their language

Again, I speak different languages to communicate. I have no other affaliations to langauges. I couldn't possibly ever feel like I own a language. Just because we speak a language, doesn't mean we own it. Nobody owns any language.

ogugua88:

Why can't we have pidgin English? Americans don't speak Queens English. They speak American, where words like "gooder", "stupider", "you got beat", excessive use of "like", and so on are spoken. Speaking American is a patriotic deal for Americans. In a country like Nigeria, where everyone is surrounded by shame thanks to greedy politicians, saying patriotism is needed is an understatement. Why can't they have something like a language to unite them?

Mexicans speak Mexican Spanish, not Traditional Spanish. Belgians speak Belgian Dutch and Belgian French, not Traditional Dutch and Traditional French. I don't see what the big deal is with pidgin.

Well said!!! And remember the valley girl English - "like OMG, that's like totally rad". Yes its not proper English but for a while a lot of ppl were speaking that way. it's not official but it's the way u may want to communicate with friends in a chill atmosphere

What I have observed thus (people who grew up speaking it try as much as possible to distance themselves from that language) I am talking from experience here, my wife grew up in ikeja cantonement and there, there is only one lingua Franca " pidgin" hence why she hates it so much, yet she still speaksout to me & expect her daughter not to pick it up.

Meanwhile d ajebutters who can not speak pidgin are dying to speak it, I don't gent it, one hand somebody who grew up speaking it hates it but most of d kids who grew outside Naija think it is cool. Strange one I must say, I personally dont't have a problem with d lingo, in fac it is evolving like American English. What is bad is speaking unadulterated pidgin without any correct English, but d way I see d development of Pidgin in Naija it is moving from d pure form to a kind of beautiful mix, where good or correct English is at home with d indgineous language and Pidgin. It is beautiful if is all mixed up like that.