Recently I was at a gathering and I heard this confused Nigerian chic referring to some other girl as ‘razz’ because she speaks Yoruba. I overheard her saying to some people “her Yoruba is so ‘konk’, i feel its too razz”, she said, with her nose in the air. And they all laughed. I turned to her and said, ‘I beg your pardon’…and na so we start to argue…cos first of all I don’t like it when people make derogatory comments about others.
Ok, I will start by saying that today I am advocating for the pidgin language to be installed in our country and to be globally recognized and accepted as a language. Y’all beware cos when I become president, its ON! and we will have a pidgin dictionary as well(i think we already do tho)! lol. I haff tired of people referring to alot of Nigerian customs as razz…why should eating eba with our hands be considered as razz? why should wearing buba and sokoto be considered as razz? why should kneeling to greet one’s elders be labelled razz? See, I nor dey lie, I have heard so many people label all these things as razz, if I dey lie make I naked baf!
The one I will sha not tolerate is labeling pidgin razz. Just because some people don privilege to go school now, they will now be looking down at people that did not get an education and tagging them as bush. So the conductor hussling to make ends meet is now bush abi? I no blame una. And yes, I will take this thing personal cos e dey pain me enter my bone marrow! Shuo! In fact make we clap hand for awisef, how many oyinbo people fit speak our language? yet we speak their own pass them-we are intelligent oh. I am not blaming oyinbo people for imposing their language and culture on us, I dey blame us for thinking that our language no reach. See, to be honest, I was filling an application the other day and I was asked how many languages I speak, I listed them as;Yoruba, Pidgin, and English and do you guys know what was amazing? Pidgin was listed as one of the languages on the website! Pidgin IS A LANGUAGE! One of my chinko classmates told me he took pidgin language course in his university as a part of his programme…and again, I shock! OMG!!! lol
Why our tins no dey sweet us? Hmm…all I can see is a bunch of people who are ashamed of their heritage. Talk true, is it queens English your granmama dey speak abi na proper, broken, konk pidgin or una traditional language? Some of us, awa father’s can’t spell ‘go’. Because community don join sponsor u go school now, we no go hear word again. You now have a razz radar everywhere you go. I will state this: anything that is an established fact where you originally from come is not razz. If you are from Nigeria, i’m sure you are from a tribe, inside that tribe, i’m sure you are from a town, inside that town una get village, and inside that village your ancestors have a custom and if that custom is swallowing big akpu with your bare hands then do not try to be acting smart and referring to them as bush or razz.
If you like claim that u don’t have village and you are a city gal/boy, that one na for your pocket, cos u originated from somewhere, u didn’t fall from the sky with Brazilian hair and British accent. Have you seen oyinbo man eating chicken and chips with fork and knife before?No! And I’m sure 99% of us eat chicken and chips with our hands as well, and we go dey lick the finger sef, but if you see your cousin eating eba with finger you go dey roll your eye. Why we too dey form? I’ve noticed that if a Nigerian can speak a foreign language e.g French of Spanish, kai! He/She go be hot cake and will be considered very posh…why can’t we turn the tables around? Why can’t an American man speaking Igbo be considered posh and a privilege? Why we nor dey like our own tin sef? I tire!
I just remember one tory…na so this old babe return from jand and she dey huzzzzle for husband. At the end of her 11 months search, she never still see ‘boy’ talkless of ‘friend’…why? Cos she just dey complain…all the men she met were razz to her just because they acted Nigerian. You want to know the end of her story? what happened in 1985 happened to her. She went back to jand husband-less! To be honest ehn, on some days when I wake up, I thank God that I grew up in Warri, Area! Cos the people are so honest, funny, and real-they hardly look down on anyone. I realise what most people know about warri is the violence and thuggery but isn’t that what is referred to as the danger of a single story? If speaking pidgin makes me razz then I will gladly dance alanta while chanting…Im razz, im raaaazz, im raaaaaaaaaaaaaazz!!!
I think I should chase a career in cultural diplomacy cos I have alot to say about on this subject BUT, I will put comma here. Not a full stop because I am going to follow this up till I am president! lol…YES I CAN ooops! YES I FIT!
Enjoy the clip below and click here to educate yasef!
