Hilarious English Phrases You Can Only Find In Ghana.

Known to have gained independence from her British masters on 6^th March 1957, Ghana adopted the Queen’s language and is the most widely spoken language across the country. Now, as if that wasn’t enough a language to speak, I have been hearing some funny utterances on the street all in the name of speaking English. Who am I to laugh in their presence but I think these hilarious English expressions have quite come to stay with Ghanaians for good.

Like Seriously.
I don’t really know if it all began with the Vodafone advert on the T.V screens but I find most people use this phrase to express surprise or shock. What’s more, this phrase usually comes along with a unique looks and gestures on the faces of those who use them.

Who does that!
Yeah, I heard this phrase quite a number of times on campus and I wondered if it was a new product in town that everybody was using. It is said to show disagreement or abhorrence of one’s act and trust me, you don’t want to see the face of the one who says this to you.

From today going.
I have always wondered where today is going and has never reached its destination. I think this is a direct translation of what we normally say in Twi rightly as “3n3 3k)” thus the phrase “today going”. The right expression however is “from today forward or henceforth” I guess I didn’t make it quite confusing for some of you.

On the light.
I bet you will even find the so called educated elites using this expression and would never find anything wrong with it. Haahaa! It is very funny isn’t it? I might have used this somewhere too, yes but it is not the right thing to say. Instead say turn on the light or switch the light on. I’m sure if they wanted to turn off the light off they would say “off the light” Haahaaa!

I quite remember.
I don’t know what the word “quite” does to one’s ability to remember. Ghanaians cannot seem to do away with this word. It looks like whenever there is no “quite” people cannot clearly remember things. Why not just say remember and leave Mr. “quite” alone. Hmmm! Ghana is indeed an interesting country.

I’m buying pure water.
As if one would deliberately opt to buy dirty water. Anytime I use the bus. I hear hawkers scream pure water and customers would say “I’m buying pure water”. Maybe the water in our home is not as pure as the ones sold on the street.

I want to barber my hair.
You hear these mostly from friends who want to have their hair trimmed (the right expression). Barber is just like any other occupation, funny how people would want to mess up this profession.

It will not reach.
Another funny expression from the Ghanaian perspective. It is used to describe an amount or quantity that wouldn’t be enough or suffice in its usage. It looks like Ghanaians want everything to be moving until it reaches everybody.