Fellow Lagosians,

I’m going to be raw, blunt and natural. Like fashion, many street slangs come and go while some stay on for decades.

A commercial van "danfo" inscribed with the words "Aropin"

. I’ll assume slangs such as “carry go”, “wetin you carry?”, “no dulling”, “one chance”, “let’s go there”, “gbogbo bigs girls” and “fokasibe” have replaced the meaningful ones we used to have on buses such as “The downfall of a man…”, “The young shall grow”, “Let my enemies live long…”, “Eda ma ro mi pin”, “Safe journey”, “If God be for me…” e.t.c.

Nowadays, the reigning style is Jenifa’s, effectively adding an “S” to almost every word e.g. “I loves that boys”, “Whats is your names?”, “Threes millions nairas…” and ultimately, “Gbogbo bigs boys”. Majority of the quick words originate from the root language of Lagos, Yoruba although the lingua franca in Lagos is Pidgin / pigeon / broken English.

That brings me to the latest (possibly disgusting) slang on the streets now. And it’s just two words “Jooo Oh!…” (please) then some creative, possibly obscene words. I’ll leave you with three examples after which you can manufacture more for yourself. It’s fun if you catch the joke.

1. Jooh oh!… mi o le fi indomie pokunso o (Please I can’t hang myself with noodle strands – of course no one can!)

2. Jooh oh!… mi o le fi alakan se kan kan o (Please I can’t use a live crab as bathing sponge – can you?)

3. Jooh oh!… mi o le fi toothpick se post o (Please, I can’t make a goal post out of toothpick)

And it goes on and on and on and on. I had to manufacture those dry ones cos it’s basically raw-er than this.

… but I won’t say, still, just keep your ears out of the window or take a trip in a Danfo and wait for the trigger – JOOO OH (pronounced Chor Hoe)!

Joor Oh! Mi o le fi ejo she tie o!
Mi o le kirun niwaju BRT o!
Mi o le gba canal de Canada o! (from Efundola)

See Rubminds.Com for more Joor oh slangs.

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