Top 22 lexicons to know if you are living in Ghana
You need to know these top 22 Ghanaian lexicons before talking to a Ghanaian, because he will certainly use it in one of his speeches if you’re not from Ghana. Before you get lost, run through the following Ghanaian lexicons.
Ghana Must Go or check-check bag
It is the name of a common big bag used to store things or pack loads when traveling.
But have you ever wondered why this bag, called “Chinatown tote” in USA and “Tuekenkoffer” in Germany, is called “Ghana Must Go” in Nigeria and Ghana?
Well, someone did not just sit and coin the name for the bag, a real life incident that happened in Nigeria back in 1983 christened the bag “Ghana Must Go”.
Over a million West African migrants, most of them Ghanaian, were ordered to leave Nigeria at short notice in 1983.
The Nigerian economy was suffering a downturn. But hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians then found themselves stuck outside Ghana’s border unable to get back home.
In movies, the Hero or protagonist is always the Blowman according to the people in Accra and Jack to the Kumasi folks because he executes most of blows or sort of.
On the eve of vacation, especially from the lower to the upper primary, children throw a party or picnic where their parents prepare all sort of tantalizing foods accompanied with pastries and drinks to share with their peers. In Ghana, we refer to it as Our Day.
This actually means Gang Leader, which has been pronounced wrongly and the name maintained as Gangalia.
When you’re experienced at something or have the technical know-how to do something, we refer to you as Chef, and this does not necessarily mean the head of cooks.
When you’re knowledgeable about something and are able to explain to details.
When a Ghanaian says brutal which actually mentioned “brutaaa , it is to add emphasis to an exciting news or heated argument or to show how serious you are about something. For example: I love the guy “brutaa” the person is emphasizing how he or she loves the guy.
When you hire somebody to weed your compound for you, it is referred to as By-Day but its mentioned “baadey”.
If a person is rough and rowdy, we say you’re by-heart.
These are all the types of heavy duty cars, trucks and bulldozers in town
When we say charley, it means peer or friend.
It’s the act of memorizing the key pints in a note you believe is likely to appear in the exam paper.
The ancestral tooth brush made usually of a twig of a tree used to clean the teeth.
This lexicon is popular among high school students and it means to snitch on someone
An eatery or a place where you can buy food and eat is usually referred to as a chop bar.
The money husbands give their wives for the upkeep of the home
The caps of bottled drinks are known as counters because they were used to teach counting in classrooms.
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