The Sweep With Hassan Alhaji Hassan: Clichés in Lingua Franca that Destroyed the North

A cliché is originally fresh and appealing idiom, simile or metaphor that first sounds fresh and enticing, until they become too used overtime, such that their familiarity becomes a burden on our senses and begin to tear and wear the ear. When a cliché takes place in the use of language, it can be negative as much as the effect of its meaning tolls on the life of users.

Language is a cultural factor that forms a larger part of a people’s life and can make or mar their path to life. The following are some of the phrases or sentences that we use every day for decades now that tilt the pathway to progress of the collective fate that holds the fate of life in the north. Do we change them? Maybe yes; maybe no. But maybe we need to reduce the frequency of their use or avoid them even.

Take the following examples but do not mind my interpretations of all or some of the clichés, please.

1. Allah ne ya qaddara:  That fatalistic phrase that gives excuse for everything men do as coming from God, and rules out any form of attempt for scientific reasoning which can be a plause.
2. Kabar wa Allah: Leave everything to God, which discourages any form of individual or group attempts of seeking any form of justice.
3. Ka dangana ga Allah: Depend on God and do not do anything to help yourself.
4. Waye yake haka yau/ ba’a haka yanzu: the join the bandwagon effect that discourages you from doing something different, and according to your believe and conviction about what is good or better. Also to discourage a good leader from being what they are or what they want to be in office.
5. Zamani ne ya kawo/ ya abaci: the justification for the spoils to rule out your effort at holdon to your good values and traditions and to pass them onto your child.
6. Kai/shi waye: who are you/is he, to rule out any human thoughts, capacity or efforts for good, public good; for justice or against tyranny, unfairness or injustice.
7. Wa ya isa? Kana shugaba din kuma: the whisper into the ear of the leaders to summon courage to do wrong and to deny other subordinates rights and privileges, especially when the Ali Ka fi Gwamna does not like you or does not like something for you.
8. Duk abin da zai faru ya faru/ ba abinda zai faru: as above, do anything, let anything happen. Bad nothing will even happen, to assure the bad leader and give them confidence to be bold and daring in doing bad.
9. Wa ya isa?: as above,  further assurance, who can?
10. Rabu da wasu: as above, forget them, to edge individuals or groups who want to give good, honest advice to correct wrongs in leadership.
11.  Bar mu da su:as above,leave them to us, when the Alis are ready to lie to the victim or deceive them or when the Alis are ready, permit this other cliché, in worst case scenario, to die for the bad leader.
12.  Amarya bat a laifi: the honeymoon cliché that spoils and fixes the bride against every good value in marriage and in the event of conflict, the marriage can only collapse. It is the first and last stroke that is responsible for the break of the many camels’ back
13.  Na miji ba zanin goyo ba ne: dillaliya, baaba or mama’s last advice to the bride who makes every effort to please their husband by fulfilling their duties.
14.  So so ne amma son kai ya fi: to discourage you from thinking for others, for all and to take out your good sense of justice and selflessness.
15.  Ni ba akoya min haka ba agidanmu: when the bad bride makes excuses for her bad manners and refusal to do the right duty or escape them.
16.  Allah yasa mu dace: prayer or wish of the bad counsellor who wants one to do bad. They know God gave every chance to do good, the open window for constant, many times, deliberate manners to ignore the right and the good, and to encourage bad in recurring decimals of human errors.
17.  Gaya masa ya/ta ji: desperate stresses of the determined idea muter among family, friends or colleagues when they gather to advice you against a good intended deed or project with the hidden purpose of discouraging or stopping you from it.
18.  Allah ne yakeyi/yake bayarwaa;/Ko wa da rabonsa: defend or justification for the bad in the distribution of rights and privileges in the place of work, in order to rule out the recurring decimal of humans’ purposive sampling of beneficiaries.

Those are just some, meant to open a dialogue for many more to flow in from you.

 Please write to send us yours so we can include in a compendium.  You can also suggest correction of form of any of the clichés used above.

We wait to hear from you in earnest.

Thank you.

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Hassan Alhaji Hassan can be contacted on 08032829772/08050551220 (text only with full names and address)a[email protected]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.