THE LOUD SILENCE OF MY LORD

THE LOUD SILENCE OF MY LORD Language is indeed is dynamic. It changes. Aspects of it come and go. A case in point is the expression “My Lord”, which some persons in society used to throw around when in conversation. This is something that happened up to about four or five years ago. I heard it mainly in Yaoune and if I remember correctly, it was very much in use in the Sacred Heart College ex-students community. I can particularly remember Shesans such as George Atanga, boss of the Yaounde-based Building Construction Company, TANO; Cornelius Ngang Awasom, also Yaounde-based; and Samuel Nji Ngang (alias Slim) who is CEO of Plasticam in Douala employing the expression repeatedly. A typical ‘My Lord’ conversation would go this way, when two people met: “Hey, My Lord! Long time! Where have you been My Lord?” “Wao, My Lord. It’s been long in deed. Good to see you again My Lord!” “So, when did you come to town, My Lord?” “Oh, My Lord, I just arrived today My Lord” “So My Lord, are you ‘spoiling’ me or am I ‘spoiling’ you?” That is a coded allusion to sitting someone down and giving him a beer. “Oh, you know My Lord; ‘spoiling’ can go either way. But I’ll ‘spoil’ you first since you’re in my territory.”