In Nigeria with over 200 million citizens, people are fond of communicating with unique words or phrases into.
Nigerians continue to create new slangs to enable them to have a “coded” conversation with one another.
Below are few of the slangs that made it into the country’s culture in 2023:
1. Dey Play
This slang is commonly used by Nigerian youths. It is a way of telling someone to stop deceiving him/herself and be more realistic.
2. Go to court
This slang was commonly used by Nigerian politicians in the last 2023 general election.
This is a way to tell their opponents to seek redress in the court of law in case they were not pleased with a certain result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Nigerians now use this slang during arguments, to tell someone to go to court if they were not satisfied with the outcome.
3. Idan
Idan, a Yoruba word which literally translates to “magic”, became popular in 2023 that President Bola Tinubu once used it.
It describes someone extraordinary, unique, special, influential, and powerful.
4. No Evidence
Popular Nigerian Afro-beats singer, Burna Boy, introduced the popular slang, ‘No Evidence’.
The meaning of the slang is people might not believe what you say or hard work no matter how you explain it.
This slang also goes along with the phrase, ‘You go explain tire’.
5. Let the poor breathe
This slang became popular after Tinubu used it while addressing Nigerians.
President Tinubu used this slang to talk directly to Nigerian leaders, appealing to them to consider the poor masses especially when formulating a new policy that might suffocate the poor.
6. On Colos
Colos is a short way of saying Colorado, a hard drug mixture containing many drugs, including cannabis.
‘On Colos’ is used when someone is not in the right state of mind and may be acting under the influence of drugs.
For instance, if someone is saying the impossible, like, “You can build five-storey building in a day”, another may reply with, “on colos”.
However, the World Health Organisation and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have warned Nigerian youths against the consumption of hard drugs.
Credit: Punch
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