Patriot's Diary # 27: Being Kenyan is in Sounds & Phrases

My best Friend was once asked if Swahili was the language with click sounds. Just in case you don’t know; it’s not. My best friend told the individual pretty much the same, only she added that if a Kenyan ever clicked they were being rude!

Kenyans are a colourful people in sounds and phrases. We click, laugh out loud, and when we meet a friend we haven’t seen in a long time; we give a resounding hand shake that echoes across the room. And we crown the salutation with the phrase ‘CHIEF!’

You’ll always hear a lot of ‘Chief’ amongst Kenyans in social settings. It’s a word of fondness, and has no relationship with your political designation! It’s an alternative to ‘Dude!’ Or ‘You guy!’ Just say ‘Chief!’ But it’s mostly common among men, but women also use it on men as well.

Like ‘Chief!’ There are variations of phrases that we use case in point; when someone hasn’t seen you in a while you’ll hear, ‘umenitupa!’ (Directly translates to ‘you’ve thrown me’) or ‘umepotea’ (‘you are lost’). As Kenyans we proudly speak direct translations from our ethnic tongues and Kiswahili to English. So when someone says let’s ‘beat stories’ it’s a direct translation from Sheng (colloquial Swahili); Kuchapa (to beat) story.

Then we have the Kenyan phrase of Pity, empathy or affection; Woiye! It really has no meaning as such. You can say ‘woiye’ to anything; seeing a cute puppy, to pleading for mercy. Its use is pretty versatile. So even if I say, ‘woiye’ thanks for reading my blog. I am just expressing my gratitude for reading my blog.

Then you have the Kenyan phrase for time reference. ‘But…’For some reason we have always struggled referring to time as ‘the week before last’ or ‘two weeks from now’. So to save us the hassle we say ‘but one’.

So when my wonderful countrymen say, ‘I am going to Mombasa next week but one’, that means the week after next. The key is to pay attention to information prior to the ‘but…’ so when I say, ‘I was shopping last week but’ three’. I mean three weeks ago. I know… it may seem complicated but you’ll get used to it! I also found it frustrating at some point!

Then you have another one we all grew up hearing; the Kenyan word for consolation- ‘Bas Bas’. Well what can I say, if you are struggling with the entire Kenyan lingo ‘Bas! Bas!’ You’ll get the hang of it and figure it out! J

Then you have the Kenyan phrase for surprise; Aki! Then there is ‘you mean?’ thrown in there. The delivery is fabulous, because there is always an expression of awe, shock or disturbance on the person’s face. So you’ll get a lot of ‘Aki! Gosh he left you. ‘You mean’ ni cha ukwelo? (Colloquial Swahili meaning, ‘is it real?’ You need to witness women gossiping using these phrases, the facial expressions and keenness and the phrases spewing out, Hilarious!Also in the category of surprise is ‘Haiya! It is used pretty much the same as ‘Aki’.

Then we have the phrase of clarification which I find very rude. ‘Ati’? If you find yourself on a phone conversation with a Kenyan and you have a bad connection brace yourself for a lot of ‘Ati?’ It is pretty much the same as ‘What?’ Get why I think it’s rude?

Well those are some of our top phrases, but the king of all sound is the Click of disgust or disapproval. It is almost always accompanied by the open palm point at the culprit. When someone is annoyed at you first, you’ll hear the constipated, ‘oooommm’ sound that rises from the belly! The reverb then moves up to the tongue to produce the jaw shattering click, wrapped up in the sneer of the century! Fabulous! I love being Kenyan. It’s all in the sound and face. The delivery is only effective if you put your heart into it; Kenyan Style!