One of the uses of the English Language as stated by David Crystal (a linguist) in 2010 is English for special purpose. Apart from the use of English for general purposes, every profession is characterized by its technical term as well as some styles of writing that are peculiar to them alone. These terms are known as JARGON and not what people interpret as RUBBISH.

The first expression to be considered here is BOARD. I have read many descriptions of places indicating this:

“Board a bus from Surulere to Oshodi.” “Surulere and “Oshodi” are names of places in Lagos. The important question to ask here is, “Is the use of board   inappropriate?” our findings reveal this as the meaning of board.

Board means to get on a bus, plane, train etc in order to travel somewhere.

The definition shows that board is only concerned with travelling.

I board a bus from Lagos to Abuja every Saturday.
Some users suggested the use of the word ENTER. They say, “Enter a bus to Abuja. “The definition of enter reveals. Enter means to go or come into a place. He entered the room suddenly.

word ENTER is not jargon peculiar to transportation unlike board that is wrongly used. In talking about a short distance, especially within the same state, use the word “GET ON’’. You can say,

Get on a bus from Surulere to Oshodi.

If one gets on a bus, don’t you often hear the expression get down? I noticed another expression emanating from get down. The expression is come down. Somebody must have asked you this once;

“Are you coming down here?”

Let us examine the two expressions.

Get down means to write something especially something that someone is saying.

He was followed by a group of reporters trying to get down every word he  said.

It will be ridiculous if a policeman tells an educated driver to get down, and he picks his pen and paper saying,

“I am listening.

That is the accurate interpretation of the statement and he acted  appropriately in that situation.

What about the phrasal verb “Come down”. The closest meanings to the situation of a bus are:

1. For someone to travel to the place where one is.

Are you coming down for the holiday?

1. to fall to the ground.

We were still out in the fields when the rain started coming down.

The word people use to replace “get down” and “come down” is alight.

How accurate is the use of the expression? Alight, as a verb is Intransitive; meaning that it does not need an object to make a sentence. If there must be an object after it, the preposition “from” must follow it. She alighted from the bus at Ikeja.

Not, She alighted at Ikeja. What is the meaning  of the word alight? Our findings reveal that the word alight means to step out of a vehicle after a journey. Most users insist the  use of the preposition “from” as a collocation for the word “alight”

Examine this expression:

“Do not alight from a moving bus”

Instead of bothering yourselves with the usage of get down, come down and even alight; try to use the word ‘GET OFF’’

Say,

Driver! I want to get off here.

Drivers often use the expression “Trafficate” Don’t you say that too? You must have accused somebody that he/she  did not trafficate for you.

Let’s examine this conversation:

A:        Did you trafficate?

B:        I thought you saw my trafficator.

Sincerely, there was a blend of the two words Traffic and indicator.

The blending took  place in Mid 20^th Century. This suggests that the word “trafficator” existed for some time before going into extinction. There was never, such word as “trafficate” in English it must have emanated from back formation as a result of over generalisation.

Just like,

Generater                –           Generate

Instructor                –           Instruct

Drivers!Please read this

We discovered these words as the appropriate expressions, indicate and indicator . Let us examine their meanings.

Indicate means to show the direction in which you intend to turn in a vehicle using lights or your hands.

Don’t forget to indicate before you pull out.

Indicator is one of the lights in  a car that flash to  show  which way the car is turning.

Let’s revisit the conversation:

A:        Did you indicate?

B:        I thought you saw my indicator

Again, as it was established, though still used by some people, that the word “Go slow” has nothing to do with traffic; go slow is a protest against an employer in which the workers work as slowly as possible. Nigerian users tend to use the words “hold up” and ‘’traffic jam” interchangeably.

Is traffic jam the same as hold up?

Traffic jam is long line of vehicles on a road that cannot move or can only move very slowly.

We were stuck in a traffic jam for two hours.

Hold-up, however, is a situation that stops something from happening or making progress. It means a delay.

Traffic hold-up implies traffic delay. The delay can come in any form and not necessarily  a long line of vehicles on a road. Traffic hold-up goes beyond that. In comparison, both the traffic jam and the traffic hold-up lead to delay as that is the effect of the two situations except that the description of the two situations are not the same.

The first day that I posted this expression as inappropriate, I received a lot of criticism as feedback. I am also expecting the same in this publication. English is a language, just like other languages, that is governed by rules and certain styles. I have read this expression in different materials like posters, billboard and even certain newspapers.  It is often used by the government agencies to instruct and to discourage people about crossing the highway. Can you guess what the expression is? It is PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE.

Our concept of a pedestrian bridge is a bridge that is used by people walking and not by vehicles there any type of bridge that is named pedestrian Bridge?                                                                    Who is a pedestrian?                                                                                                                                                        Pedestrian is someone who is walking, especially along a street or other places used by cars.

From the definition if there is anything like a pedestrian bridge, it should be a bridge that is used both by the motorists and the people walking  and not by the people walking alone.   We investigated further about different types of bridge that exists.

We discovered the following types:                                                                                                                            Flyover                                                                                                                                                                         Viaduct                                                                                                                                                                                              Suspension bridge                                                                                                                                                                                Hump-backed bridge                                                                                                                                                                  Foot bridge.

Flyover is a bridge that takes one road over another road.

Viaduct is a long high bridge, especially one with ARCHES that crosses a valley and has a road or railway on it.

Suspension bridge is a bridge that has no support under it, but is hung from strong steel ropes fixed to towers.

Hump-backed bridge is a short bridge with a steep slope on each side.

Foot bridge is a narrow bridge used by people who are walking.

Cantilever bridge is a bridge made from a long piece of metal or wood that sticks out from an upright post or wall and supports a shell.

Truss bridge is a bridge that is supported by a frame.

From all the types of bridge discovered, flyover and Foot Bridge are common to us.  What then is the likely source of the expression Pedestrian Bridge?                                                                     There are some bridges in Nigeria that are used both by the people walking as well as the motorists. Unlike the definition of pedestrian, there are separate roads for the motorists and the people walking. It is safe to use the expression  FLYOVER for such.

For the bridges that are constructed for the people walking alone and not together with the motorists.

The appropriate word for the bridge used by the people walking alone is known as FOOT BRIDGE.

Instead of the notice

“Use the Pedestrian Bridge’’

It is better to write

Use the Foot Bridge

You must have observed this the expression even along our roads. The expression is used to indicate the name of the police officer that controls traffic.

I was surprised to read in one of the questions of the Accounting Technical Scheme, Communication Skills

The signs used by the Traffic Warden in controlling traffic is known as …………………………

You must have seen the expression ‘Traffic Warden” to imply  the police officer  that  direct the movement  of the vehicles  on the road .

Is this name appropriate?

Who is a Traffic warden?

Traffic warden is a person whose job is to check  that people do not park  their  cars in the wrong  place or for  longer than as allowed and to report on  those who do or tell them that they have to pay a FINE

We discovered another definition close to the Nigerian usage from World English Dictionary .

Traffic warden is an un uniformed public official; who enforces parking restriction on the highway  and may also direct traffic

That definition does not interpret our use for some reason.

1. Our conception of a traffic warden is a uniformed public official.
2. Traffic warden, in our definition, majorly controls the traffic .

Do you observe something in the definitions of the word traffic warden? No single definition indicate that a traffic warden is a police officer.

What do we say then?

The police officer that directs traffic is unofficially known as TRAFFIC COP. In a formal writing or speech, the police officer is known as a TRAFFIC OFFICER.

The Essence of this column is not to criticise any organisation or body. We intend to expose us to the fact that our use of English is still very low in Nigeria. Our students in secondary schools do not usually pass the English language as expected.

Most of our graduates are afraid of speaking the English language confidently because they are not sure of the appropriate usage of the lexical items.

We have been able to examine the following words in this edition, board ,  get down , trafficate, hold up, traffic jam, pedestrian  bridge and traffic warden.

The discussion continues in the next edition

Don’t forget this, a good Communication Skill can make you greater than you can ever imagine. It is relevant to every profession.

Take a good decision today. Acquire this skill and become better. The Gospel of good English is what we preach at the Stylisticians English Language School.

The Stylisticians

Moshood Abimbola Alabi

Stylisticians English Language School.

www.stylisticians.com

14, Iwaya Road, Yaba, Lagos

PIN:7F26FB7A

TEL:08033336265