Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Authors Note/Brief Notes on Pidgin English.

Hey! King Corn here :D
Thank you so much for making it this far in the book, I hope you're enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
So, that's the end of Part One. Serendipity is a three part story and each part contains ten chapters (I don't know if it'll increase as I edit) capturing different points in the boys lives and that of their friends (but it's mostly about them).
As you've noticed, the book is set in the giant of Africa, Nigeria and I use a lot of pidgin English words, terms and phrases in it. If you’re a Nigerian reading this, hey, how far?😏
But since I uploaded this story to wattpad, I had to take into account non-Nigerians or just non broken English speakers reading it. So, hi (again), I'm going to give a run down of the pidgin used in the book so far and explain how it works.
(You can skip this part if you want).

What is Pidgin English?
Nigerian Pidgin is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria. It is also called 'Broken English'.
Here, English is the official language (and French our second language, it's taught in schools but only few people actually speak it). Aside from that, people usually speak their native tongue. Pidgin is a middle ground language, used by both people who aren't fluent in English and people who are. It's also used informally during conversations with friends.

Pidgin Phrases and Sentences in the Story So Far.

1. "Don't I feed you?" She would shout then grab at his hand. "Osanogbua! My son is a skeleton!": Not pidgin but I'd like to clarify that Osanogbua is the Benin word for 'God'. Nosa is a Benin boy, Benin is a city in Edo State, Nigeria (It's also where half of those fancy masks in the British museum come from.)

2. 'This bros is using me to catch cruise’ : Cruise is a slang that has many meanings. It could mean to enjoy or flex but, in this sentence, it means to troll. To 'catch cruise' means to troll somebody/bait them. Doing things that'll provoke them.

3. 'God, na life be this?': This sentence is a lamentation, it's basically a dejected 'Is this life?' Used with 'be this/that', 'na' is used to ask some questions where you refer to a person or an object. For example, saying 'Na Agatha be that?' means 'Is that Agatha?'  I only placed emphasis on 'na' because it's a very common pidgin word. It doesn't always mean 'is'. Depending on intonation and the context, it could mean something else. I think I'll get into this more later.

4. 'We go jam somewhere, ba?': Literally to bump into. Irekan is asking Nosa if they'll bump into each other again. 'We go' means 'we will'. Another example; 'We go buy Benz', meaning 'We will buy Benz'.

5. "Omo, you need to sleep.”: Omo is a Benin word (and a Yoruba word, I don’t know if it's shared with other languages) that means 'child'. It's been incorporated into Nigerian slang to mean, dude or bros (which also means dude and is not pronounced as the plural of 'bro' is. It's pronounced like 'was'... but like, with 'bro' instead of 'wa'. 😂I don’t know if that makes much sense.)

6. “Why are you smiling like a werey?”: A Yoruba word meaning 'Mad man', incorporated into Nigerian slang. It's an insult but is also used as a term of endearment, depending on how familiar you are with the individual.

7. "How far .../?": In a sentence or phrase, it means 'How is?', on it's own, it's a casual greeting that means; 'How's it going?' Or 'How are you?'. Answering with 'I dey (I'm good/okay)/I dey fine (I'm fine)' is common. I dey means 'I'm'/'I am' (eg, I dey come-- I'm coming.)

8. 'Oga': Sir/boss.

9. 'Wagwan?': Originally a Jamaican slang, means 'How's it going?' just like 'How Far?'

10. ‘Up NEPA!’: The National Electric Power Authority was the organisation in charge of distributing electricity in the country like. Now, it's been taken over by PHCN and a private electrical distribution company but shouting 'Up Nepa' when the power comes back on is tradition.

11. 'It’s no wahala.': Wahala means problem or trouble. This sentence can also be shortened to 'No wahala'. It means the same thing.

12. "Let’s be going na.”: Remember when I said 'na' doesn't always mean 'is'? This is one of those cases. Here, the intonation matters

I think that's all of it. If there's anything I missed, please let me know.
Fun fact: Remember this sentence in Chapter Ten? 'It was like how water and oil formed the rainbow slicks that he liked to stick branches into when he was a child.' I'm really bad at naming stuff and this book was originally going to be called 'Rainbow Slicks'😂 Luckily, my friends dissuaded me.
Part Two is on it's way. In the mean time, feel free to comment what you like about the story so far and what you expect to happen in coming chapters.
Later!