KWENU! Our culture, our future

IDIOMS

 

31. O nweghi ihe anya huru gbaa obara.

 

*There is nothing the eyes would see and shed blood.

Every hard experience in life can be endured.

 

2. Arushi kpafewe ike oke, e gosi ya osisi e jiri pia ya.

 

*If a deity becomes too powerful, it would be shown the tree from whence it was carved.

 

*A person of humble beginnings or questionable origin should never become arrogant on attainment of a higher status in society, else he would be reminded of his humble beginnings or true origin.

 

3. Ka arushi a hala, e ji aka abuo apa ya.

 

*No matter how small a deity is, it has to be carried with two hands.

 

Honor should be given to whom it is due extraneous circumstances notwithstanding.

 

Nkem Ekeopara

nekeoparah@hotmail.com

 

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Na akpu ereghi abughi nsogbu; e ji ya eme alibo.

That cassava tubers did not totally ferment is no problem; it can be made into cassava flour.

 

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Egbene mmanya na-egbu ahụbeghị egbe ara na-ayị.

Mmanya gbuwe nwaọkụkọ, o chefuo na egbe na-ebu na nkike.

Egbe mmanya na-egbu ahụbeghi agụnkwọ ara na-ayị.

Mmanya gbuwe ụkpana, ọ daba n’ikpo ọkụkọ.

 

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Anwu gbaa nwata o tuba okpoloko ijiji egwu.

(A child stung by a bee begins to fear even an ordinary fly.)

 

Meaning, "Once beaten, twice shy."

 

KUDOS Dr.I.E.Anigbogu

University of Jos Nigeria

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Onye afo otoro na-asa amaghi nke bu ajo ohia.

 

One with a running stomach does not bother if a forest is sacred.

 

1. Literal Notion: One pressed with a compelling bodily health discharge crosses spaces and borders without minding to secure a liberal release.

 

2. Critical Insight: Rules are traversed to reach across something when urgency for health and safety is the issue.

 

3. Embodied Meaning: Space and related rules are made for life, but those rules in themselves serve limited causes when there is a need to fight personal demands of life.

 

KUDOS Patrick Iroegbu

 

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A bia be onye na-akwa nka, o di ka o na-ego iru.

1. Literal Sense: When you visit an artist at work, you may feel he is indifferent to your presence.

2. Critical Notion: Those fixated on serious enterprise rarely allow room for distraction.

3: Subjective Meaning: Don’t misjudged inevitable preoccupation for apathy.

 

Ebe enyi naabo na-alu ogu, ana na-ata afufu; ebe enyi naabo na-akwa iko, ana na-ata afufu.

1. Literal Sense: When two elephant fight, the grass suffers; when two elephants make love, the grass suffers.

2. Critical Notion:  Do not get in between two bullies, regardless of whether they are fighting or horsing around.

3: Subjective Meaning: The smaller and weaker parties are also pawns in peacetime and wartime power games.

 

Onye na-eche nwaanyi na-anu ikili ukwu ndimmuo.

Literal: He who awaits a female date hears the footsteps of ghosts.

Notion: Undue expectations often yield anxieties and false results

 

Ejiro kwa ubosi akpo onyeukwa "nne anyi."

Literal: It is not everyday you call a breadfruit seller "our good-hearted mom."

Notion: Freeloaders cannot expect to get their ways everyday.

 

 Kudos: OSELOKA OBAZE

 

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Mma na-eri igwu, igwu ana-eri mma.

1. Literal Sense: The palm frond whacked by the machete also dulls the machete.

2. Critical Notion: Consequential interactions are based on give and take or cause and effect.

3: Subjective Meaning: Every action has its consequence.

 Kudos: OSELOKA OBAZE

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If you heard or read of a good idiom lately,  let us know!

 

kwenu@aol.com

Ozu sibe isi, enyi ka nwanne alaa!

 

Literal: When it's time to tend to a decomposing corpse, only family members-- not friends--stand close.

 

Notion: When the chips are down, presumed allies pitch their tents with their core constituency.

 

 

Ozu sibe isi, enyi ka nwanne alaa!

 

Literal: When it's time to tend to a decomposing corpse, only family members-- not friends--stand close.

 

Notion: When the chips are down, presumed allies pitch their tents with their core constituency.

 

Kudos HANK ESO

 

 

 

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Ulili si onye jekete ije ya tuo nkwa oso, maka ihe oso emee mee.

 

[The ground squirrel says one who walks should sometimes break into a trot, in case the need to run arises.]

BE PROACTIVE, not REACTIVE

 

Kudos M. O. ENE

egbedaa@aol.com

 

 

Onyeubiam anaghi aza "Omeokachie."

Literal: An indigent does not take the title of "Omeokachie" -- i.e. one who completes and seals anything he does.

Notion: Used in condemning false claims and utopian aspirations.

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Kudos EKENE NWANKWO

 

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Ochu nwaokuku nwe ada, nwaokuku nwe mwomwo oso

Your adversaries will not succeed in doing you any harm, they may try but they will not succeed.

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Ime a kwu oto tuta na-apu ara.

Not-well-planned arrangements always end up in chaos and regret.

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E gbue maka iwe, e nie maka isi.

Forgiveness is the best form of revenge.

**

Kudos AKAEGO

 

 

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E nie ozu, e nie onuma

Literal: Bury a corpse and bury the angst.

Notion: Never reopen contentious issues for which there has been a closure or agreed settlement.

 

Kudos oseloka obaze

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1. Ofu aka lutara mmanu gara oha onu.

 

2. Nwata si na nne ya agaghi ehi ura ya na onwe ya agaghi ehi ura nke ya.

 

Kudos Hon Gab okey Uyaemesigo

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Nkita si gwara ya onye ya turu ute n'ahia, na ntukwu amarala ya ahu.

 

 The dog asked people going to the market to please tell the person he had much earlier asked to buy him a mat for lying down, that he has waited so long that he had gotten used to stooping down. He no longer needed the mat to lie down.

 

Kudos Alexie Nna Njoku

 

 

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1. Anya okuku na-eche akwa ya.

2. "Nne kulu, Nna kulu" anaghi anagha nwa choru inwu anwu anwula.

Kudos George Ndive

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Ukwu kpoo onyeite, ya esere abo ya.

Literal: When a carrier of earthen pots trips, he picks up only his wicker basket.

Notion: When confronted with the insurmountable, accept reality and cut your losses.

 

Ngwele dayiga n'olulu, ya mara onye gbaraya ukwu.

Literal: A lizard never forgets who kicked it into a cesspool.

Notion: You may forgive a traitor or transgressor but you should never forget them.

 

Oseloka Obaze

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

Ignatius Uyaemesigo, Ichie Gbulugbulu Aguleri

Okuku no na ngige: Ngige egwu, okuku egwu.

 

 

Oseloka Obaze

Ijiji na-enweghi ako na-eso ozu baa n'ili.

Literal: A fly without discretion follows corpse to the grave.

Notion: Lack of circumspection is the bane of the foolhardy.

 

 

IGBO IDIOMS

 

Kudos Dr. I. E. Anigbogu, Health Services, UniJos, Nigeria

E zuo ka a ra eli udene kalu-nka, a totuo ngiga.

"Birds of the same feather flock together."

 

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Gbanu-gbanu gwujie ji, a nodu ana gwupute odu ya.

"More haste, less speed.

 

Kudos Patrick I Iroegbu

Onye na-amaghi ihe emere nwete enyi nwaanyi na-asi gwa ya okwu ka o laa.

1. Literal Sense: One who does not know the details of a matter jumps into declarations for quick end of a matter.

2. Critical Notion: One who lacks ability to understand how deeply a lover feels for his loved girlfriend provides a lopsided counsel to use bad words to chase the loved away.

3: Subjective Meaning: One who does not know the efforts and resources invested to getting a girlfriend quips in to tell bad words to the girl to send her away if she is not cooperating.

 

Kudos Oseloka Obaze, NJ

Ike adighi nwaanyi imuputa nwa, o si na ofo nna ya ji ya aka.

Literal: A woman too lazy to go through labor and delivery, claims that her ancestors would not grace and mandate the arrival of the newborn

Notion: Making convenient excuses will never accomplish the tasks at hands

 

Nwa m akalia m bu aghugho.

Literal: To claim that your child is beyond your control is treachery.

Notion: Those who fail in their parental duties make excuses.

 

Notion: Making convenient excuses will never accomplish the tasks at hands Nwa m akalia m bu aghugho.

 

Nwa a kwo n'azu amaghi na ije di ufu.

Literal: A child strapped on the back does not appreciate the difficulty of trekking.

Notion: Those who don’t bear the direct burden of a conflict tend to take its enormity for granted.

 

Kudos Oseloka Obaze, NJ

A gbaghiri uzo owele mgba, o naghi echi

Literal: If you don’t wrestle those who turn your backyard into a pathway, it won't cease being a pathway.

Notion: To condone or tolerate trespassing is to encourage further infringements

 

'Enyi m, agaara m agwa gi' abughi ya; 'Enyi m agwakwara m gi' bu ezi enyi.

Literal: 'My friend, I should have told you' is not it; 'my friend, I told you so,' is true friendship.

Notion: True friendship demands that we speak bluntly and even painfully to our friends.

 

Kudos Dr. Anigbogu, UniJos, Nigeria