The Hairer the better

I was passing through Aba Owerri Road and saw a sign which read, "Hairer Thermocool" some weeks ago and thought that it was a costly "typo" the merchants would remove the banner almost immediately. Yeah right. Today, as I went past the same place sitting in my usual Keke Napep ride, I saw that the sign was still up there in bold type. Welcome to our world of making do with mediocrity.



English is not our native language. We have accommodated it, played with it, thrown it around (some missiles hitting target with a bang) and definitely have had fights with it in the mud all to grapple with the "White man's wahala." Who told him we needed to speak his language? We have tried "broken English" Pidgin, while trying to communicate in our borrowed language of high class; all to no avail. Slips on typographical errors also called typos do happen even to the best of us, when we let our language slip. Ask Linguistics students at the University of Ibadan. Basic Grammar was no joke.

But the point is that in Aba we do all sorts with the English Language, like "My Redeemer Leaveth." Nne, leaveth for where? For Owerri or Okpuala? Look around you, examples abound of these rather nasty typographical/grammatical mistakes and they are quite hilarious if you allowed yourself some humour.

Enjoy this beautiful Wednesday afternoon in the Enyimba city of Aba. We dey like we dey; and like we love to ask here, How far?