For most people in Abuja the sign below is nothing more than one of Abuja’s many street signs. For me (and indeed anyone else who speaks Kiswahili) two of the places mentioned instantly stand out:
Nyanya is the Kiswahili word for grandmother and tomato ( I have never known why the two share the same word in Kiswahili – any takers?)
Kubwa in Kiswahili means big.
lol, it strikes me as ironic that you look at all these road signs but still don’t know your way around that place. On the bright side, at least now you’ll be able to make it from your place to the office without ending up in front of any giant tomatoes.
Nyanya Asokoro could also be a name. Msokoro’s nyanye would be it.
I am also trying to get a hold of you about blogging. Could you send me an email?
like many bantu languages kiswahili tends to have some levels of ambiguity which are hard to explain . Some argue that such is the case since the language is spread over a wide geographical area . In the case of the word nyanya – it is mainly used in kenya to refer to grandmother . Tanzanians call theirs bibi , while the same cannot be applied across the border since it refers to the wife or in some cases the hidden mistress . Other words in this category include juma , mwanga , shoga etc etc .
Care must however be taken when using some of these words since they can deemed be offensive by others
PS: don’t laugh at my alias
Because Grandmas have thin skins?
PS. You’ve been memed! That’ll learn you for meme-ing me! đŸ˜‰