Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello, there. I just had to comment on this message. Let me first start
out by saying that I am not a Gambian and English is my first language. And
even I had trouble reading some of the phrases you were talking about. So I
can imagine the difficulty that some of the list members had in trying to
figure out what was being said.
Sometimes bigger words don't really say much of anything. Anyway, that
is all I wanted to say...
Ginny
Here, Here Ginny, If you want your audiance to engage you in discussion, it
helps if one simplifies his/her text so we can all read and understand it.
This reminds me of Fr. Little at St Augustine's during composition class, "big
words means small head", he use to tell us. Habib Ghanim am sure ypou remember
this one.
Daddy Sang
----- Original Message -----
From: "Prince Obrien-Coker" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2000 12:34 PM
Subject: Good English or Poepi-Nak? Part 1
> 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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