Mr.Obrien-Coker
Well done on you piece about "BAZZING CHURCHILL" I am in "konkong"
Re:your question: How about DRIBBLE TOWARDS GOAL ??
Kind Regards
XTENSION 1 TELECENTRE The first place in Gambia to offer free printouts
of the Gambia L.
Prince Obrien-Coker wrote:
>
> TO ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE GAMBIA LIST
>
> "If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant.
> If what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains
> undone."
>
> I am extremely sorry to begin with Confucius, but the way things are going
> with some of the contributors to the Gambia List is seriously worth
> addressing. Some are of the conviction that they are so good in their
> command of the English language that they should impress the List with
> words. Words that make readers to run for a dictionary.
> The questions are; is it an art of good writing or is it just to show-off?
> We all know what we contribute to the List and we do that for people to
> understand us. But when one writes, "Perchance you were lost in the
> labyrinth of my prose", as in a posting meant for Jabou few days ago, I
> asked myself whether this writer had any intention to be understood. The
> Gambia List, to my understanding is a forum and not a symposium and as such
> should be a place for all Tom, Dick and Kumba, where academic pretension is
> totally out of place.
>
> In my observation, some of the writers of what I call "sheer Poepi-Nak"
> have forgotten that they are not English but Gambians. They ignore the fact
> that they are writing in an "foreign" language, and not wanting to know that
> the English Language is only the language of their intellectual make-up and
> not their emotional make-up. We, as Gambians, are all somewhat bilingual,
> we write something in a language that is not ours things that are mentally
> ours. I challenge anybody on this List to tell me in English, (in 3 words)
> with all shades and omissions and in the same thought-movement the meaning
> of the phrase "Katta utti Goal". There are 9 or 10 English words to define
> the single Gambian word "Suttora or Suttoro". The thought-movement of such a
> word in a Gambian language carries more weight than all English words for
> it.
>
> The most appalling aspect of some of these writers, is their tendency to
> coin new words or give their own meaning to an existing one. Which made me
> to call them Humpty-Dumpty journalists. With, 3 dictionaries and 2 thesauri,
> I can hardly find some of the words they use. Words that do not exist in the
> English Language thereby causing a rush for dictionaries and the constant
> complain of headaches by members of this "Cyber-Vous". Another intolerable
> style of their writing is their attempts to make nouns out of verbs that do
> not have a noun, by adding "-ability" to the verb, thus producing horrible
> words like "Publishability". They turn verbs to nouns by adding "-ise" (e.g.
> Contextualise). These people consider themselves TOO educated to use simple
> phrases like "worth publishing" or "to put in/into context", not thinking
> that some of there readers might be Crab Island School dropouts. Below, I
> have listed some of the "Poepi-Nak" I have read on this forum and I have
> tried to give sensible meaning to some of them. Comments in bracket are
> mine.
>
> 1. Banjulian = Wa-Banjul
> (What would you call somebody from Talinding Kunjang? I guess Talinding
> Kunjangian.)
> 2. Deleterious political = harmful politics
> 3. Transmogrified = transform
> 4. Legerdemain = trickery
> 5. Unbridled recalcitrance = unchecked defiance
> 6. Stygian depths = low depths
> (Some of us are not versed in Greek Mythology)
> 7. A scintilla of evidence = jot of evidence
> 8. Publishability = worth publishing
> (A non-existent English-like word. Coined by the writer)
> 9. Choke-full of allegations = full of allegations
> (The adjective choke-full is archaic and only used by some old Aku women)
> 10. Cynical imbecility = very stupid
> 11. The vacuous aggrandized theme = empty but lofty theme
> 12. To the point of ad nauseaum = to the point of disgust
> (This writer thinks ad nauseaum is the singular for ad nauseam)
> 13. A retrogressive of inversion of priorities
> (I don't know what this writer means)
> 14. Espousing political expediency = adopting political advantage
> (There is an element of politic in expediency)
> 15. Any historical disquisition = Any discussion of the past events
> 16. The trammels of military-civilian-dictatorship = the shackles of.
> 17. A new-fangled political process = new-fashioned political process
> 18. The veracity of his allegations = The credibility of his allegations
> 19. Believability = credibility
> 20. Without any tangibility = without any proof
> 21. Contextualise = put in (into) context
> 22. Amateurishness = Naivete, Inexperience
> 23. Applicability = Suitability, Aptness
> 24. Discombobulating spectacle = ?????????
> (I honestly do not know what the first word means. Can someone please tell
> me?)
> 26. Unflappability = ???????????
> (I can't find this word in my dictionaries)
> 27. Phantasmal forlornness =
> (Phantasmagoric lonesomeness WOW!)
>
> The writer who wrote "My presumption of your believing Jallow's allegations
> was not necessarily indicative of certainty or believability on your part,
> about Jallow's account" is not worth to be read.
>
> TO BE CONTINUED....
>
> Prince Coker
>
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