Shakespearean-squirm or…..?

At Legon in the 1970s at the First-University-Examination (FUE) Level, now Level-100, Professor Sey taught us English Language, while Professor Senanu taught us English Literature.

These OXBRIDGE (Oxford & Cambridge) professors fascinated us with their command of the English language.

Without my daring to mention which part of Ghana’s geography produced him, Prof. Sey regaled us with characteristic humour! An example he gave which rocketed us into space was, “Wilberforce Mfum, (Black Stars in the 1960s) gave a carpet shot which sailed over the bar.” 

He also taught us that just as there is “American English,” which is different from Standard British English, there is also “Ghanaian English.” 

As I listened to the radio on August 8, 2024, I could not help but admire the discussants for their “Queen’s-English,” as they engaged in verbal acrobatics/intellectual gymnastics in their tug-of-war over “finder/finder’s/finders’ (mine), founder/founder’s/founders” etc. 

I guess Shakespeare would have described the tussle as a “Shakespearean-squirm,” while Orwell would settle for “Orwellian-outrage.” In my March 2023 article titled “To Banter or not to banter,” I stated that:

QUOTE

Serving 30 years ago with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia in 1992-1993, I had a young Indonesian pilot as one of my Staff Officers. One of his responsibilities was to draft memoranda for my approval.

Unlike Ghana, Indonesia was colonised by the Dutch. English therefore did not come naturally to my young Captain.

Increasingly frustrated with my constant correction of papers he wrote, he one day asked me, “Sir, why is English so difficult? It is not logical! Why?”

The example he gave using three words was, “bake,” “make” and “take.” While the past tense of bake is baked, that of make is made, while take is “took!”

His question then was, why is one ending of past tense not adopted logically for all three words? If adding “d” was adopted as in “baked,” then make could simply be “maked” while take becomes “taked!”

Similarly, if take changes to “took,” then why does bake not become “book” and make “mook!”

For a pilot used to controls of logical operating systems in the cockpit, his desire for logic was understandable. 

However, I explained that, like the Dutch language he was used to, English, like any other language, was/is flexible and dynamic, and could not be subjected to strict cockpit rules of an aircraft!

Banter

In recent times, the word “banter” appears to have “found favour in the eyes of” Ghanaians, unfortunately for the wrong reason! Regularly, insults/serious exchanges/fights have all been described as “banter,” the exact opposite of what they are!

The reason for this may not be far! In school, we were taught the word “onomatopoeia!” These are words which suggest the action they stand for. Examples are “bang, screech, and shoot!”

Banter appears to fall in this category, as its pronunciation suggests aggression, hence the mistaken usage. Perhaps, “bantam-weight” in boxing has also contributed to the problem!

“Banter” in Standard English is defined as “a playful and friendly action done with teasing remarks!”

Therefore, using banter to describe an altercation/serious confrontation is wrong! Incidentally, banter is not the only word misused. To “churn out” has also been caught in banter’s web.

Churn out

To “churn out” is routinely heard in statements like;

• “At a colourful ceremony, the newly graduated medical doctors the university has churned out were congratulated by the Guest-of-Honour for their hard work over the past six years of study.”

• “The new state-of-the-arts hatchery churns out thousands of day-old-chicks daily for poultry-farmers!”

 To “churn out” means mass production with little regard for quality, ie producing quantity without quality. Therefore, things churned out are inferior.

In George Orwell’s classic 1984, the word “doublespeak” features. Doublespeak is the deliberate use of words/phrases/sentences ambiguously, so as to give what is said more than one meaning. Recently a statement made some years ago assuring/emphasising the determination to fight “galamsey” was reduced to being only a “figure-of-speech!”

Sadly, in the “global village” the world is, we only make a laughing stock of ourselves in the eyes of those we run to with begging-bowls, after mismanaging our economy, when we disingenuously, reduce a statement on a serious issue like “galamsey” to “only a figure-of-speech!” 

Discussion

For Ghana which lost 8000 nurses/hundreds of doctors leaving in 2023, with an educational system which still has schools under trees, imports tomatoes from desert-Burkina Faso/onions from Niger, is the position of an apostrophe, the most important contributor to national development when people are leaving in droves, some drowning crossing the Mediterranean?

Have we not heard of Burkina Faso’s “Burkina Sat 1” using satellite/space technology for agricultural/health/economic development?

When the 16th and 17th-century fathers of modern Political-Philosophy, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke postulated that, with man in the “state-of-nature” of jungle survival-of-the-fittest, life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,” what they hoped for, was a humane system.

Here, the majority cedes their rights of personal security/health/education etc to a government, in return for a collective civilised life/governance. As many Ghanaians have opined in these hard economic times, who founded Ghana, (or indeed Nigeria/Cote d’Ivoire/Kenya) and “tug-of-war..ing” over it, is needless.

For us pensioners whose investments have been “decapitated”/decimated by the Domestic-Debt-Exchange-Programme, buying our medications is our priority, not “finders/founders,” subjecting us to a “Shakespearean-squirm/Orwellian outrage!” Remember, even Methuselah died, at 969!

Let not apartheid Prime Minister of South Africa PW Botha laugh at the blackman from his grave, for proving correct his insulting description of us! Like is happening in Burkina Faso, leadership must be underpinned by a vision, integrity/selflessness/discipline to enable us to produce food, improve our health/educational/transportation needs, and bind us together as the proud Ghanaian we were at Independence. Leadership, lead by example! Followers, wake up!

The writer is former CEO of African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya/Council Chair Family Health University College, Accra.  

E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com