The Cow and the Road

By

Obododimma Oha

Various Igbo highlife musicians have said it in their songs, but it is the special rendition by Sir Warrior that engages the attention of this article: the cow and the road:

E libe ụzọ,

Libe ehi,

Mụ ewere ụzọ,

Hapụ ehi.

E ribe ehi

E richaa ya.

Ụzọ ụzọ echi echi....

(If the road is put on a leash

The cow put on a leash

For me to choose out of the two,

I would choose the road

And leave the cow.

The cow could be eaten up completely

But the road, never!)

Indeed, both the cow and the road could come to an end. But the cow ends quicker. A road could be temporarily closed or permanently, but a replacement constructed. Not so with the cow. So, both are not exhaustible in the same way.

Sir Warrior in "Elu uwa" sings about his bewilderment in life. Those who think that life is like cowmeat are mistaken. It's inexhaustible like the road. This world seems to have no head and no tail. Life is a mystery.

Sir Warrior would like us to stop treating earthly life as we treat cowmeat. We cannot completely finish life. It's an unending road.

This life is strange. It cannot be compared to a cow. Even the path the cow makes may become a road eventually. That's one reason for us to be very careful in life.

This configuration of life as a road is very profound, indeed. The day of birth is not the beginning of the journey and death is not the end. The road stretches on. The end of the road is not in sight.

But there are roads, not just one. he road to Venus and the road to Plutoa The road to Putin is not the road to Zelensky. There are even roads in roads. 

Sir Warrior would pick the road and leave the cow. But he knows that the road may diverge. So that various voices would talk about the cow and the road differently.

"Nwanne M Peter, Nwanne M Paul": The Errors in English We Didn't Know Were Errors

By

Obododimma Oha

The Nigerian English as a Second-language context could be full of interesting challenges and surprises. There are creative reuses and there are errors.

Why would there not be errors? First, English is not the native language. This meant interference from the knowledge of the native language.

The children' s teachers shared in this interference, although they had attained higher education. Native use is native use. The nonnative expert needs some humility here.

There are many other factors, including physiologies, teaching methods, etc.

It was our days in the primary school in English as a Second Language context. There were some words that we uttered but didn't know were wrong. Either the adults from whom we heard them uttered them wrongly, or  we heard one thing and uttered another. Or what we thought we heard was not what was uttered!

The main contexts of this experience was songs. Usually, the learners were many. So it was difficult to make sure each child heard and repeated what was heard rightly. In a song, it was given:

(1) I want to live eternal life

     God save my soul

But we sang:

I want to live internal life

God save my soul

I hope that God understood. Whether the singers wanted to live eternal life internally or to live internal life eternally, it mattered less. God should understand. The words, "eternal" and    "internal" are related, only that they have allowed some syllables to separate them. Thanks to the poet looking for a rhyme. They are together again!

Song learners who are also second-language learners do face a lot of challenges. Interference is just one of them. A sound in the song that they are learning in English may resemble the one that they have in the first or indigenous language. This could cause the problem of generalisation. Thus they would begin to utter the wrong sound.

Learners, faced by interference problem, may alter original words. A case that could be cited is that of "covenant, " wrongly realised as "convenant." This alteration is common among the semi-literate and may even be considered appropriate and fashionable.

Another interesting case is seen in (2) below:

(2) Two little doves sitting on a branch

One named Peter

One named Paul

Wrongly realised as

Two little doves sitting on a branch

Nwanne m Peter

Nwanne m Paul

Curiously, poetry class is the context in Nigeria, an English as a second-language environment. In that context, we can imagine strange uses of language.

"One named Peter"and "One named Paul" are uttered as "Nwanne m Peter/Nwanne m Paul." This is simply a case of taking the English sounds as Igbo sounds or mistaking of English words as Igbo words, thinking that what was heard was the English word. The English expression, "one named, " sounds like the Igbo "nwanne"!

Some errors become style when they become popular and are used regularly. This seems to be the case with "brother" ("broda") in Nigerian English. Same for "sister" ("sista") and "uncle." As in

(3) Broda/ Sista welcome.

Broda or Sista may not be from the same womb with the speaker. Just a big boy or girl who is socially more important or can offer gifts to the speaker. It is therefore an encoding or suggestion of respect. Same for "uncle" who may not in any way be related to the speaker.

Paradoxically, a brother is not a brother and sister is not a sister in this error speech. It is hoped in the teaching of the language that one day a brother would become a brother and a sister sister. Just hope that informs teaching methods.

Error is just a stage. The children would surely pass this stage and something would take over. Either they unlearn and relearn or they inflict their error on the society.

A Move Prompted by the Other Move: Learning from Comments on Updates

By

Obododimma Oha

It is now known that readers' comments on updates on Facebook walls are important fields that can  expand the discourse. Facebook itself has been idealised as a classroom. It is not only that teachers can use update fields as virtual classrooms, creating groups for courses they teach, but comments on updates can throw more light on issues and educate readers. Thus, there are classroom comments that are group dealings and there are classroom comments that are merely imagined.

Although comments on Facebook, which are sometimes visualised, are means of helping resdership, we know that some people comment just to run others down and to advertise themselves. That means that they are not just there to help. They are there to kill!

More on visual comments. These may be stereotypical, being used in the same form in another update.

Nothing new added. It may be giggle, clapping, laughing, etc.

Thus, they could reveal attitude to people, issue at stake, the update, a comment, etc.

Also, comments represent the idea of free participation in public debate. But they are subject to censorship. Wall owners can delete comments or even block commenters! But it  is not always good to act in anger and delete comments. In making comments we can expose ourselves. Our wisdom and foolishness would show. Our enlightenment and ignorance would be exposed. Just like the update itself that exposes the updater.

Types of comments we can find are worth noting:

(1) Comments on other comments;

(2) Comments that have no direct relevance to the update;

(3) Commenting as a routine to boost the ego of the person who has made the update;

(4) Comments that extend the discourse in the update.

Some comments focus on other comments. This is not necessarily bad or diversionary. It is an attempt to extend or expand the discourse. Actually, comments expand and extend the discourse. It is natural that a comment that invites another is treated as an extension.

Comments on other comments are follow-up moves in the discourse. The Initiation move is actually the update. It is  what has prompted a reaction or response.

One problem is that making comments on comments without first reading the update may lead to another error of diversion.

This brings me to a class of comments that I find interesting: comments that have no direct relevance to ongoing discourse. The commenters seem to leave them to fulfill all righteousness. It's as if commenting is a must and so people commenting have complied as required.

This reminds me of some people not waiting for the typing of the update to be completed before making their comments. Why the rush? The author of the update may still have some editing to do!

What else do we expect of discourse in the public space? Some contributions would merely cause confusion or try to disrupt a coherent and ongoing one.

Commenters may also show an awareness of the need to avoid infringement on other's wants as in normal conversation, wants like includedness, abilities, and pursuits. Interestingly, Facebook has been developed to help readers clearly indicate whom the comment is addressing. Specificity is ensured through the mentioning of linked names, not just through the normal flow of the discussion.

We expect a comment to extend the discourse. A comment can extend the discourse by

(1) Citing another case that could throw more light on  the issue at stake, make a refutation, etc. Such extensions provide useful inroads to intertertextuality or cohabitation of texts. Indeed, updates invite other texts, making intertextuality unavoidable.

(2) A comment can extend the discourse by addressing another aspect of the theme that is not given attention. Readers may be interested in this trajectory.

Indeed, we may be educated through comments. That is one reason we should not treat them as something unimportant.

Silent Storms

 

By

Obododimma Oha

The title of this essay is from a poem by Bimbola Faith. Naturally, storms are noisy and do frighten some of us. So, to talk of "silent storms" is to make the reader think twice. Poets use expressions that confuse us, to force us to scratch our heads, sometimes contradictory  expressions . In that kind of case, one just has to read and re-read. After reading and rereading Faith's "Ray of Hope" and encountering "silent storms," I thought deeply about its meanings.

When I think of storms, what comes to my mind is destruction, tearing, mangling, explosion, death and pain.

But applied to human life, we are told by psychologists that some storms are good for us. A little stress keeps us well exercised.

The poem interestingly puts storms against smiles. So, these "storms" are not the normal ones we know. Different experiences understood as "storms." The poet even qualifies the storms as operating silently within many the human being.

But culture is there to help us."Dimpled smiles" and even "ray of hope." Rays give warmth and dimples are seen as indexical signs of beauty in many African cultures. But that dimples are indicators of presence of beauty is simplistic. There is nothing in that depression on the temple that can signify beauty. In fact, elsewhere and other times, dimples could suggest ugliness.

"Ray of Hope" is calming. Consoling. Ray is actually hope, a connotation that is welcoming. It suggests a good management of the silent storms.

Let us consider the storm more closely.
(1) It is not heard outside the person.
(2) They are still destructive (" ravaging").
(3) They are deceptive in the signification that follows.

Tears are also signs of pain from the storm.  The storms bring sadness. They give birth to "tearing eyes."

But there is still hope.

The poet chooses to be elliptical about the acts of the silent storms. So, we have to imagine them? Biting instead of kissing? Frisking instead of hugging? Slapping instead of laughing foolishly?

I don't like storms, whether metaphorical or real. They scare me. Last time I read *Kontiki Expedition*and *Treasure Island*,I had to hold the person nearby to be able to sleep.

No poem, they say, is ever finished. Only abandoned. And so I believe that we are only given the introduction in "Ray of Hope." The full poem is on the way, just like this brief essay.

I Miss Canaan City

By

Obododimma Oha

I miss Canaan City

I miss the sweet breeze

And filtered air that kisses my nose

I miss Edikang Ikong

And menu prepared with washed hands

Honestly, food is ready!

I miss smooth skin

And life well-looked after

I miss life

I miss Canaan City

And her pleasures

I miss the land

That keeps my heart.

A Trouble-maker

By

Obododimma Ọha

In a world where things are standing

On their heads, if you still know

Your right and your left

Then, you're a trouble-maker.

If tell people to do the right thing

How do you know

The right thing?

What makes the right thing right?

Only trouble-makers

Talk of the right thing

Or do the right thing

Peaceful souls see and deny.

In this new world

Right is terribly wrong

And wrong is wrong

Because it is hidden.

So, Trouble-maker, you are wrong

Because you know right things still.

Brother Dash Me

By

Obododimma Oha

There was a time that in local areas in Nigeria one was considered lucky to inherit things used by one's elder brothers and sisters. One always looked forward to wearing the same clothes, shoes, handbands, etc or carry the same bags they carried as young people. It was like following their footsteps or waking on the same road that they walked. It was a thing of pride and one was glad to be involved.

From what some spiritualists tell us, putting on someone's clothes is like wearing that person's skin. Wearing a brother's or sister's skin could be a good thing, after all they were both housed in the womb for some time. That is an important connection. Creation has a plan in this togetherness. So, it is a good idea to wear brother's or sister's skin. 

Those who wanted to kill one's joy or were dying of envy would label the inherited things "Brother of Me." It could be observable that what one was wearing was inherited because it might not be one's size exactly. So, it was dismissed as "Brother Dash Me" and as owned by someone else. If a Brother gave out a pair of trousers, the inheritor just had to go and see a tailor later with it. Same for skirt or blouse. It was very easy to recognize a  "Brother Dash Me." 

But, before the fuller discourse, let us look closely at the language used in the labeling. The senior is a "Brother," with a rising on the first syllable of the word. If that is not a phonological appeal, what else is? Plus a gratitude. "Brother's" place as the high in the discourse is still preserved, but that is to "undress" the proud wearer of oversize.

There is also some Nigerian pidgin there - - "dash." A gift is just a "dash," which means the giver does not really need it and has no reason not to give it away. That is an indirect way of saying the gift is worthless. 

It is not a birthday gift. It is not a gift from Father Christmas. It is purely a discard. That is a greater way of using language to kill the spirit of the wearer. Little wonder many have now kept away from "Brother Dash Me." 

One interesting thing about this "Brother Dash Me" is that what someone used to cherish has gone to someone else. That reminds me about our valuing of our offices and things as if we would keep them forever. Don't they say in Nigeria, "Soja go, soja come. Barrack remain"? ("Soldier goes  soldier comes barracks remains"). Our personal office today will be someone else's office tomorrow. We cannot be around forever. That is why it is important to make the future strong, indeed, stronger! That baton must be handed over to the next mate in the race.  

"Brother Dash Me" did many other things that I liked very much. It did something to relationship. It made it become stronger and warmer. Of course, one expects someone covered by another person to  be warmer. And so we are not surprised at this warmth in the relationship.

"Brother Dash Me" further reveals one vital thing about sustenance in the society where it occurred. It shows that the inheritors did not expect parents to provide clothings and other things all the time. It is true that parents have played a major role in bringing people into this world but don't have to be the ones to provide all their needs. So, we find some rural areas laboring and doing things to be able to help themselves. Even their communities have lived not to wait for government but simply depending on the goodwill of citizens to build bridges, repair roads, build schools and hospitals, even police posts! So, brothers and sisters even have macro application. Brothers would always "dash", as we find in many parts of Nigeria's South East. 

"Brother Dash Me" means that Brother cares and will continue to care. Brother is your covering and your warmth. Sister, too. In this journey. In this weather. 

On another note, one could see the spirit of communalism and sharing at  work. That spirit of the communalism is interrogated in the "Brother Dash Me" ridicule of individualism. The womb of our meeting and housing is no longer considered. 

In Nigeria these days, one sees used things  from overseas on sale. Clothes. Shoes. Bags. Even underwear! These are not "Brother Dash Me" again for they have been bought from the market! They are not someone's life going to another person. One has paid to have them. They are not items for "dash." 

Brother, sister, look back, at your back, and continue to "dash."