Dundee United

The words Dundee united, the name of a Scottish Football club has a hilarious claim to fame in Nigeria.
It is an insult.
example:

Dundee buruku* - stupid idiot
Dundee united - absolute fool

Apparently this slang term for idiot came about after Dundee United FC lost several matches during a tour of Nigeria in the 60s and 70s. I grew up using the term without really giving a thought to how it came about. Apparently the rest of the world became acquainted with the Nigerian use of the words via the BBC documentary "Welcome to Lagos".

Hilarious! Read more here



*buruku is Yoruba for bad/stupid

Back to the basics

I have been away from blogging for a while. I know that's quite an understatement.

Juggling children and a career in obodo oyinbo is not easy at all o, my people. Like I have mentioned in previous posts, I like to write, but can only write when I am in a certain state of mind. I am back to that place where I can blog. I will still be updating this blog from time to time,as the spirit moves me, in Naija speak. Please also check out my new blog the (Complete) Chatterbox Companion, with anecdotes about my family life. A link to the blog is under the Arins Odyssey 1.0 Tab on the pages panel above.

Lemme share this funny story with you my readers before I end this post i think it depicts the Nigerian obsession with marriage.
So I just had a baby, and my aunt came to visit from Nigeria. She met one of my friends, an American Lady.

American woman: how old are your children

Aunty: 26, 24 and 20

American woman: oh, so they are already very manageable

Aunty: yes o, they are marriageable

Me: Aunty, she said manageable.

Aunty: oh yes, indeed, they are manageable

Me( trying to cover my embarrassment: they are manageable and marriageable.

Lol!

Nigeria@50 - a series

Its been a long time! I don't know if anyone still comes around here, but just popping by to do some PR for the Nigeria@ 50 series. Check Loomnie's blog for more details http://loomnie.com/2010/09/25/nigeria50-a-series/.

Helloooo.....anybody there?

We like to think that we are unique. But really, we aren't all that special. We are prone to doing the same things as many others. It might be due to the last vestiges of the 'survival' programming in our DNAs, where the chances of survival are higher in a herd.

What I'm trying to say, to cut the long story short is that the fact that I too have been MIA is directly attributable to the Facebook phenomenon. In spite of the fact that I resisted the urge for so long, I have now, for almost a year succumbed, and have been badly infected by that deadly virus which has been going around. And yet, it doesn't give the satisfaction that writing does.........

I still have a lot to say, but demands of family and FB have bitten into my time, so that I almost never manage to sit down to put a fleeting train of thought to paper before it disappears. I would like to do more of that in the coming months.

New trend in Democracy

The opposition candidate alleges fraud(see Here) in the recent Afghan elections. This recent spate of fraud allegations after elections, and subsequent innovative solutions as seen in Kenya and Zimbabwe is leading to a dangerous trend, that in my opinion prevents one from knowing when fraud has actually been perpetuated, and when it is just a case of trying to get your share of the cake by shouting loudest.

There have been practically no elections in recent times in Africa, Asia or South America where fraud has not been alleged. While in countries like Ghana, one party let go, there have been 'innovative' solutions like power sharing as already mentioned above, or just massive crackdowns and human rights abuses as recently seen in Iran.

In developing democracies, or young democracies as the press calls them, I think that it would be unrealistic to await completely fraud-free elections. If that is the case, the question then is this -how much fraud is too much fraud? Do creative solutions not undermine the very tennets of democracy? How does one avoid politicians behaving like spoilt kids who alwasy want to have their way, while at the same time making sure that genuine concerns are addressed?

If I come up with plausible answers to the questions above, I'll be sure to post them. Meanwhile, anyone with any ideas is welcome to share.

Recently on my reading table: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell; I do not come to you by chánce by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.

Meanwhile, if anyone is reading this, have a lovely week.

What if?

Is it disloyal to ones partner to wonder if one would have ended up with him or her had facebook and other social networking sites existed 5, 7, or 10 years ago?
The reason for such silly thoughts is the fact that I've been meeting up with old friends, principally from my Naija uni days in the last few days. I suddenly find myself meeting with old crushes and toasters.

I have a particular guy in mind in typing this. We met in 100L, and he really actively courted me. I liked him a lot, but as a good sister in the Lord, I didn't let things progress beyond one stolen kiss in the science faculty of UI. After I left Nigeria, I thought about him often. Since those were pre-GSM and pre-Émail days in Nigeria, there was no way of getting in touch. I had googled him a couple of times in the last few years, out of a curiousity to know what was up with him.

Facebook has reunited us. It turned out that he often thought of me too - at least that is what he says. We are both married with kids now, and its nice to be back in touch.

I am nursing a scientific curiousity. I still can't help but wonder, what if?

Back to the future

I was recently doing a spring cleaning on my email accounts when I decided to go down memory lane. Since unlimited storage is a relatively recent phenomenon on free web mail accounts, I have very few emails dating back to 1998, which is when I first opened my main mail account. Since one only had a few MBs at that time, deletion of emails was very routine, and I did not have the oversight to save copies of those mails.

One thing struck me very strongly: the people who were fixtures in my life at that time, with whom I constantly exchanged emails on a daily basis (even when we were still going to meet for dinner later), whose lives were so intricately woven with mine, so much so that I could not imagine not being constantly in touch with them , these people have been replaced by others over the space of time. Don't get me wrong, these people are still my friends. We still keep in touch - only instead of weekly or several times a month, its now once or twice a year.

Isn't that what maturity is though? Those people who helped nurse a broken heart, with whom we once plotted business ideas that never came to fruition, trips and surprises that still bring a warm feeling whenever I think about them are still in my life. I have made room for others though over the years.

The most surprising of all, with hindsight is the person closest to me now. 9 years ago, my husband and I were not that close, we exchanged forwarded emails every once in a while. While most of our early correspondence has been lost to the forced email account clean ups of years gone by, seeing those emails which I have saved, I would never have predicted that we'd get married and start a family together.........

Now you see why I never destroy old letters or cards or emails(except I am forced to) - the future is a conundrum that can only be unraveled(or maybe not!) by a study of the past.