In Sierra Leone, the Mende term for white person is Poom-whee, which means person from London. Generally just kids say it. The Wolofs do have a derogatory term for white people - Nop-bu-honk, meaning red ears. An old word from colonial times alluding to white peoples' sunburned ears. I spoke pretty good Wolof then, and I would hear commercants calling me that, so I would call them Nop-ku Nool, meaning black ears. Everyone would start laughing and things changed. I lived in Dankunku, The Gambia, for about 6 months, in the home of the Paramount Chief. I was called his first son, Lamine Mboge. He was a wonderful, kind, wise man, who had seen some things.
Amazing, thank you Daniel. Indeed, I understood that Lamin is the first son and Bintu the first daughter. Didn’t the chief’s oldest son object when you adopted that name? He was certainly also called Lamin (and very few old men do not have a son).
Not many whites choose to live in Upper Gambia, and those few I met have quite deeper perspective on things.
We have a tenant on our farm from The Gambia. He calls my partner the “white man.” Everything is “white man prices” or “the white man way of doing things”. Your story almost puts his way of thinking into context for me. It not necessarily derogatory but just a matter of fact.
In Nigeria (2004), they used to call me 'oyibo', which my colleagues assured me was not rude and in good fun. The word for black man from the the perspective of a white man (you follow me?) was something like 'onyay-ichi' (?), which always got laughter out of them when I said.
In Sierra Leone, the Mende term for white person is Poom-whee, which means person from London. Generally just kids say it. The Wolofs do have a derogatory term for white people - Nop-bu-honk, meaning red ears. An old word from colonial times alluding to white peoples' sunburned ears. I spoke pretty good Wolof then, and I would hear commercants calling me that, so I would call them Nop-ku Nool, meaning black ears. Everyone would start laughing and things changed. I lived in Dankunku, The Gambia, for about 6 months, in the home of the Paramount Chief. I was called his first son, Lamine Mboge. He was a wonderful, kind, wise man, who had seen some things.
Amazing, thank you Daniel. Indeed, I understood that Lamin is the first son and Bintu the first daughter. Didn’t the chief’s oldest son object when you adopted that name? He was certainly also called Lamin (and very few old men do not have a son).
Not many whites choose to live in Upper Gambia, and those few I met have quite deeper perspective on things.
We have a tenant on our farm from The Gambia. He calls my partner the “white man.” Everything is “white man prices” or “the white man way of doing things”. Your story almost puts his way of thinking into context for me. It not necessarily derogatory but just a matter of fact.
In Nigeria (2004), they used to call me 'oyibo', which my colleagues assured me was not rude and in good fun. The word for black man from the the perspective of a white man (you follow me?) was something like 'onyay-ichi' (?), which always got laughter out of them when I said.
Or they told you so and it really meant something else… the Africans have great sense of humor and turn everything into a joke🙃🙃
Possibly, but I don’t mind being made fun of - I try not to make myself too seriously!