♪ With Yvonne Or-- ♪

No, I don't know why I did that.

[test screen beep]

This is Nigerian Slang

with Yvonne Orji. [chuckles]

We're gonna have fun.

[upbeat music]

First word, shine your eye.

Okay, this is what every Nigerian aunty,

mother, big cousin tells you whenever you go

to any wedding function, especially if

you're a single over, I don't know, 12.

Make sure you shine your eye

and when you go into a room, just shine your eye.

Don't be 30 at a wedding and you're not shining your eye,

you're not serious.

U Dey Craze, U Dey Craze.

This basically means are you crazy.

Usually you use this in a sentence when somebody's

being mad disrespectful, just really stupid,

or just asked you a question that,

U Dey Craze, eh, are you okay, is everything okay?

U Dey Craze, as in you gotta be crazy bruh,

'cause, you know who I am?

Ah! Baddo.

It's a guy or a girl, they mad fresh,

Gucci down to the socks, [mumbles] Baddo, hey, uncle!

Baddo.

This is when you go to a function

and everybody is just looking right.

You gotta recognize the Baddo-ness

that is in the presence. Baddo.

And you gotta emphasize that double "d"

that d-d-d.

Yeah. I have one of these.

Everybody's not blessed to have the Yash.

A Nigerian, if you will, if you have a nice Yash,

you a Baddo!

[laughs]

When a woman walks into a room,

and its like "[Nigerian] Yash"

It's 'cause, you know, the Nigerian buttocks,

they just be, they got a mind of their own,

they walking, and you just

"da da, da da, brrr"

It's like a drum, like a

[drum impression]

So ya know, yash, it's like a drum beat.

Ah, Olodo.

Here's what you don't wanna be.

You don't wanna be an Olodo.

'cause an Olodo is just, a fool.

You know what, just a fool.

You're just, dunce.

Look at that Olodo.

You say that when you've asked someone

to do something for you,

it's a very simple situation,

and they fail,

time and time again.

And you're just like,

"are you an Olodo?"

What? Olodo like you.

It's usually like with a point.

When Nigerians say something with a eye squint,

and a point,

[sigh]

It's just dismantled your soul, okay?

Olodo.

[Laughs]

This one is Amebo.

Just a amebo-

you're a gossip.

Just, busy body, walking in you're-

Amebo like you.

You're just going around town,

trying to tell people's business,

trying to find out other people's business,

that's Amebo.

You don't wanna be an Amebo.

[Laughs]

You definitely don't wanna be an Ashewo.

I don't know why I'm getting tickled by these words, but

Ashewo is what we like to call

a woman of the night.

She's a street walker.

She's got advance.

Basically, she a prostitute, y'all.

And now, we call people Ashewos,

who are not even prostitutes.

If you're that chick,

what American's would call a thot, maybe.

An Ashewo like you.

Anytime something is said with five fingers, never good.

[Laughs]

This is basically the warning.

The Nigerian, "I'm giving you one more chance,

'cause you don't want me to blow,

so before I get real upset, I'm gonna tell you

'respect yourself'"

Again, it's with a squinted eye,

and a point.

And then it's usually accompanied

by a "my friend."

When Nigerians say "my friend" they don't mean that

as a term of endearment,

you're not their friend.

So this would really be

"my friend, heh, respect yourself."

So, again, see your life.

It can be interpreted in a good way,

and a negative way.

Negative way first.

When you say something out-of-pocket,

or do something out-of-pocket,

somebody who's looking at you

can be like "see your life, just see your life."

What are you doing with your life?

Like you're not gonna make it,

like, just, look at your everlasting life.

Just, I need you-

Nigerians curse people out by

like wanting them to analyze themselves, right?

Just, see your life. Are you happy with it?

It's like a TED talk, like, am I in therapy?

The fun way about how to use "see your life"

is if somebody says something-

this is very flirtatious,

and somebody says like,

"ah, you're looking very good,

your yash is very big"

And if you want this kind of attention

from said guy, you can be like

"mhm, see your life,

mhm, stop it, see your life."

So it can go both ways.

[Laughs]

I.J.G.B

I would be considered an I.J.G.B

This stands for

the "I Just Got Backs.'

You know, whenever immigrant kids

who have come back to Nigeria from the States,

or from London,

every sentence starts with

"You know, I just got back from London,

I just got back from Yankee,

I just got back from the States"

And the people who are Nigerian are like

"we get it, you got a blue passport, nobody cares."

So they've dubbed us the I.J.G.Bs.

Oh you know, the I just got backs.

They want to tell you in every sentence,

where they just got back from,

like we can't travel.

[Laughs]

So basically they created this term to hate on us, okay.

[sighs]

I love my people.

Oh, Fine Boi.

When you go to a wedding and you have

shined your eye, and you see a what?

Fine Boi. A Fine Boi like this.

There used to be a song, that's like

"Fine Boi, no pimple,

I love your smile, I love your dimple."

So yeah, if you a Fine Boi, no pimple

that means you have a fresh face.

Fine Boi like, anyhow,

God has magnificently created you,

you're just fine.

Fine, anyhow.

Uh, Learner.

I love that these words just mean

so many different things.

Like there are English words, 'cause colonization,

but we have definitely made them our own.

So, Learner, you use this in a sentence like

"Are you a Learner?"

You're not experienced.

If you had an intern,

and you're like "can you get me my coffee?"

And you had like "I want a Chai latte,

double shot of-" I don't know I don't drink coffee,

but I'm making all this up.

And they bring you back tea.

And you're like,

"are you a Learner?"

Not to be confused with Olodo

because that person just a fool.

A Learner is just like,

they don't know, they're a novice,

they're inexperienced.

Longa Throat.

This is me,

this is basically every relationship

when a woman orders something

and then she sees her guy's plate,

and is just like,

"hey can I have some of yours?"

She would be called a Longa Throat.

We want more.

We want something that we don't currently have.

We want what's on your plate.

Like just Longa Throat.

We're not satisfied with just what we have.

'cause what's mine is mine,

and what's yours is also mine.

Don't you know how relationships work?

I don't understand.

Na You Biko.

When you walk up into an event,

and you see a fine woman with a Gele,

again, big Yash,

[foreign language]

Her lace has been perfectly orchestrated, ah.

You look at her and you say,

"ah, aunty, Na You Biko, look at-"

You're the one.

Like, you are the one.

Basically, you're that chick.

Na You Biko.

And then, you know, we're always so bashful,

and so we have to be,

"is it me? Ah, please stop it, na you, na you

na you, not be me, na you."

And so, it just goes back and forth

of just trading niceties.

This is good. I love saying this

because this basically means

there's no problem.

No Wahala, there's no beef.

Is there any Wahala? No Wahala.

If you're in the marketplace,

you're trying to haggle,

you know the vendor is kinda like

"come on man, you gotta give me this

I don't want beef, I don't want Wahala."

And you say, "No Wahala.

The price I'm trying to pay is not the price

you are agreeing to. There's no problem, No Wahala."

And then you guys figure it out,

and you settle on it.

[Laughs]

I love this one.

This is Nawa For You.

I interpreted it when I say,

when I tell people God Bless,

like "God Bless it.

You know, God Bless the girl."

Nawa For You just means like

I'm sorry for you.

Just, wow. Nawa For You. See Your Life.

It all flows.

It's kinda like a combination,

it's like See Your Life, Nawa For You.

And it's just like a compound cursing.

You're trying to pull into a parking spot,

and somebody's like "Nah nah nah, that's my spot"

and you're like "I don't wanna fight today,

'cause I got centered this morning"

but as I pass by you,

I'm gonna look at you and say

"Nawa For You."

As in, I can't eve believe you,

I can't even, Nawa For You.

Sometimes the translation's not there,

you just gotta say it,

with the eye squint, and a point.

Don't forget, eye squint and a point.

That's half of Nigerian lingo.

I No Sabi.

This is something that you really actually want

more Nigerians to say.

It means "I don't know."

Nigerians will never, ever, ever tell you