I am the Diokpa!

My hubby is from the Ibo speaking part of Delta State, Nigeria. In that part of the Country, every first male child in any family is referred to as the "Diokpa". In the simple terms, the Diopka is the head of the Family.

Recently, Tee was in one of his whining moods and I was just NOT in the mood to pet him. Instead, I chose to have a "chat" with him. In the course of the chat, I explained to him that he is almost 6 years old, and therefore, he is a big boy. I added that as a "big boy" he is not permitted to whine any more! I added that as the first son, he is the Diokpa of the family, and Diokpas don't whine or cry! That was it o! Now, he tries to comport himself as a "Diokpa". Whenever I notice he is about to change gear into one of his whining moods, I just simply say "It's a shame that the Diopka is about to whine!" Immediately, he'll switch to a better and acceptable mood!

One day, he was trying to assert his Diokpa right on Gee. He said to her "since I am the Diokpa, I am in charge of the house . . ." Gee immediately, retorted saying, "well, I am the FIRST child of this family and I AM in charge, so you must respect my views." When he asked me to say something on the issue, I said, "Gee is right. You have to respect her as the Ada of the family" I explained that an "Ada" is the first daughter of every family! At least, that settled it.

Too much TV!

I am seriously contemplating placing a ban on television watching in my house! My children are getting too addicted to the television and I am getting worried!

Back in the days, as a child, I did not have all that luxury. In fact, the first television we had was that type that looked like a cupboard with a fitted lock! Those days we were at the mercy of NTA! Only NTA! The television programs commenced at 4pm and terminates by mid night! Out of that eight hours, children watch their programs for 2 hours, and after that no more till the next day!

I remember that some days we'll sit in front of the television just before 4pm and start counting down. As soon as it's 4pm, the National Anthem is played and thereafter the presenter starts to read out the progammes scheduled for the day. We had some quality programmes back then! Although the quality of the programmes back then can not be compared to what is obtainable now! I must say, there is a great difference. Now, there are a thousand and one children programmes on various television channels to watch, thanks to DSTV and other cable networks. The language used in most of these so called cartoons are not appropriate for children (my views).

I remember when I asked Gee not to watch a particular programme on TV. She asked to know why and I told her that programme is for teenagers only. Then she said, "I can't wait to be a teenager". I looked at her with this surprise look and I said "well my dear you have to wait till you are a teenager. Even at that, I'll suggest you watch what you watch!"

My people, na so I see am o!

Heavy Security!

The picture below was taken some months ago. I went to one of the major fast food joints to buy some snacks. As soon as I parked, I notice that the fuel tank cover of the vehicle beside mine was heavily padlocked.

My first reaction was WHAT?! People would go to any length to protect their property!

My people have a blessed weekend!

The "R" Fever!

Please can someone tell me why most on-air personality mispronounce words all in the name of been phonetically inclined!?

While driving to work, Hubby and I usually listen to the car radio. We have no particular preferred station, so it is usually random listening. In the course of listening to our on-air personalities, I noticed that MOST of them speak with fake accents! If the accent is real, the speech will FLOW without any hitches! I noticed that most of the time, they add “R” or an extra “R” to every word! WHY?

For instance, a word like collection will be pronounced “COLLERCTION”. Another example is the word laptop which becomes LARPTOP when pronounced by some people! Yes! I have heard it on the radio! Other words are:
• Bottle = BORTTLE
• Cup = CURP
• Purse = PURRSE
• Hand = HARND

I could go on and ORN . . . :)

These on-air personalities always pronounce words wrongly, all because of phonetics! They cannot even pronounce Nigerian foods, names and places! Can you imagine? They talk as if they have water in their mouth. I am not saying they should not speak English, but please, speak the thing well! Even the oyinbo wey get the language no they talk like that! Shio!

If investigated, I bet it would be discovered that these so called “accent” ridden people have not been out of the Country! This reminds me of one guy who was all over the place bouncing in his baggy jeans and speaking the “yeah men... yeah men” speech. I actually thought he was born and bred in the USA! You can imagine my shock when I found out that he has never been to the USA! In fact he was just coming from a West African Country! Chei!