Watch Our Words
We are saddened, outraged and horrified at the spate of Boko Haram attacks across Northern Nigeria, and commiserate with all Nigerians and others who have lost loved ones or seen them suffer injury. We also call on our government to DO SOMETHING NOW to end the violence. Reading the horrific reports on one Nigerian news [...]
5 reasons why getting an editor is a good use of time and money
Language is evolving fast and it’s hard to keep up: Some words that used to be hyphenated are now used so frequently that the hyphens have been officially dropped, like email. While teachers used to warn NEVER to start a sentence with conjunctions such as “and” or “but,” the need for conciseness has now [...]
The President Would Go On Leave… If?
As @jeremyweate tweeted yesterday, what is with the use of “would” in Nigeria to describe events that “will” happen, like the news that “the President would go on leave”? Will and would are not interchangeable and they lead to different conclusions, so we need to be clear about how to use them properly. Will refers [...]
Taking the African Look Beyond Casual Friday
EditIQ helps you make a great first impression with your writing, but after Sonye Allanah’s comments on our “Chairmen in Skirts” post last week stirred up a mini-debate about women’s appearance in the corporate world, we invited her to give some tips on making a good impression with your professional look. Corporate Nigeria has embraced dark and [...]
Chairmen in Skirts
I recently got an invitation to a women’s group meeting whose convener described herself as the group’s “chairman.” It reminded me how Nigeria seems to have overlooked a very important evolution in the English language that tries to correct the assumption that certain positions are only held by men. There exist today alternatives to “chairman,” [...]