Ah Ha! Now we are talking my language…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

Ha! When I saw Linda’s prompt for today’s streams of consciousness, I burst into laughter. I wondered how she picked such a random exclamation.

Most of you who  have read my blog would have seen this exclamation littering the horizon of my words from time to time like in these posts:I must have been born exclaiming, Nothing to be tricked about, Fruits of a hustle, Mama Put. I can assure you that there are several more 😉

I actually try to tame my usage of the ha’s and o’s on the tip of my tongue even though it does get the better of me sometimes.

It’s the Nigerianness in me. Even if I live to be 120 years and maybe a resident in Nunavut, I am sure that ha, o  and hey, will feature in my writing as well as speech.

Back home, we exclaim a lot especially when we speak in pidgin language. Our sentences are emphasized with o, a, ha and hey! It’s literally impossible for us to do without our high-pitched punctuated exclamations. Haba! That simply takes away the flavour in the expression.

How can I tell you the depth of my askance or surprise if I don’t say ha? 😉

For instance, we use ha to express things such as:

Ha! Indeed, Really?

Ha! You don’t say.

Ha! Wonderful

Ha ba! What is it?

Now I am speaking pidgin in my head as I write and in conclusion, ‘make I finish quick, quick waka comot for hia. E get place wey I won go buy market – let me finish quickly and go out. I need to go shopping somewhere.’

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha