Ibadan occupies a pride of place in the development of Yoruba
language. There is hardly an Ibadan person who is not gifted with oratory
skills. Everyone in Ibadan is a linguist. Or let me say that I haven’t
come across an Ibadan person who is not an orator.
The hallmark of Ibadan Yoruba is the ability to come up with
situational wisecracks. You only need to visit Oja ‘Ba to confirm this.
Whatever you say to the traders will be met with a sharp retort and you start
to wonder whether they have rehearsed it beforehand.
Let me share with you four of these witty sayings.
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| Adegoke Adelabu |
Adélabú ta panla
ri... [Adelabu was once a dealer in stockfish…]
Now, to someone who does not know Adegoke Adelabu (Penkemesi), this
would have no meaning. But to an Ibadan person, this is the proper response to
someone who delights in telling irrelevant stories. For instance, if you are
boasting to an Ibadan lady that you were in the same class with MKO Abiola in
elementary school, she would look at you from head to toe before retorting with
‘Adelabu ta panla ri’.
Bi Agbaje ba n wo knickers ni igboro Ibadan, O mo
egbe baba eni ti o nse [If Agbaje is seen wearing shorts around Ibadan
city, he knows the social class that he belongs to].
I
heard this from Luqman Animashaun in our first year in College of
Education. This is reference to Agbaje Salami, one of the richest
merchants of
Ibadan in those days. Agbaje was reputed to have produced the first
medical doctor from Ibadan [Dr. Saka Anthony Agabaje] as well as the
first legal practitioner from the city [Chief Mojeed Agbaje]. That's
Ibadan way of telling you not to assume someone’s
worth based on his appearance; a cassock does not make a monk.
Ti Oke Ibadan o ba
gba malu, kii se enu alagbaro lo ye ki a ti gbo! [It's not from the mouth of a commoner that we ought to hear that a
cow is to be sacrificed to Oke Ibadan]. Believe it or not, it was from an Arab
that I heard this saying. In Arabic, Oke Badan is ‘Jabal Ibadan’.
Mo fe ko ile mi bi
ti Adebisi, esu aini ko rara ni
[If you
want to wait till you are as rich as Adebisi to build a mansion like
his, you
may not build anything at the end of the day.] Reference here is to
Sanusi Adebisi Giwa of Idikan [1882-1938], one of the richest men of
Ibadan in those days. That's Ibadan way of
telling you to cut your coat according to your cloth; start small. I
must have heard this
from MBG’s wife, Anti Sekinat, a granddaughter of Olubadan Abass
Aleshinloye.
On the other hand, people who are envious of the good people of Ibadan
have come up with their own witty sayings intended to ridicule Onigegewura's favourite town.
Anytime I want my sister, Olori Omolara, to react, I only need to tell
her that "Iyalode Ibadan, omo Egbe ni l'Eko" [Ibadan High Chief is
but equal to a floor member in Lagos.]
There's another one about "Ibadan ti o...oju lo n ró" I
can't remember the rest. Can you complete it for me?
Have you come across any funny saying from or about Ibadan?
Culled from; http://onigegewura.blogspot.com
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