Growing up in Ghana is really, really interesting. With our cultural identification conflicts, and our refusal to create a unique identity for ourselves, it is not suprising that a lot of us go around feeling confused. And if you are a visitor to Ghana, these conflicts within us can leave you confused as you go around your daily business. I’ll try putting up a list of commonly used and mis-used words which I hope the first time visitor to this part of the equator would find useful. (Maybe)
(This page would be updated as and when new terms come to our attention.)
Abroad
Forget any country in Africa.You travel abroad when you’ve been to either Europe or America
African Movie
A joke played on Ghanaians by local television stations. No other African country is featured in these movies. Mostly Nigerian movies with a few Ghanaian movies sprinkled in to silence the critics.
This is part two on the tribes of Ghana, given to me by a friend. You can find the first part here.
He was christened Nii Ayi Aryee Aryeetey - no name can be more ultra Ga than that.
Your Ga man, from the standpoint of history falls into one of three categories - those who belong to the sea (James Town, Bukom, Teshie and Chorkor), those who belong to the sand (Nungua, Labadi, Accra City itself), and those who are lost and about (Adangbes, Hausas, Yorubas, Sierra Sierra Leonean etc., born and bred in Accra).
Strangely enough, I got this from a good fanti friend of mine. I don’t know who wrote it though, but it’s funny as hell.
By no fault of his own, the regular Fanti Man has been born with a pre-independence White Man’s name hanging over his head. Some of them love to pretend it’s a burden, (though they love it!) and redeem their nativeness with indigenous first names. Paapa, Fiifi, Yoofi and Kojo are all time favourites. Kweku, Kwesi and other weekday names are also favored.
Kwamena Smith, or Yoofi Van Dyck are examples of such a curious combination. Your potential Fanti Man is pompous and self-opinionated and believes that the biggest offense committed against him is ‘accusing’ him of belonging to another tribe. His answer to a question like “Are you from X town?” invariably is “Of course not! I am Fanti, a Fanti from Dutch Komenda!”