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Showing posts from October, 2024

Bad Grammar: Why Do Nigerians Dislike Bobrisky?

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  Background NewsMattazz with Princewill TV is a comedic channel with over 5000 subscribers and approximately 1000 uploaded videos. It has evolved into a social commentary channel offering takes on politics, faith and pop culture. My Comments Princewill has set his dictionary aflame. He writes with the recklessness of a person driving without headlights on a stormy night. I have made several posts about his grammar errors. I am sure he is going to churn out more. This sentence is short yet it contains so many elementary errors. It is hard to believe this content creator even bothers with any writing tool or aid. The most obvious problem stems from the fact that a question has been posed but noticeably missing is a question mark. There is also a subject-verb agreement error and poor word choices. The correct form of the title should be: “Why do Nigerians dislike Bobrisky?” “Dislike” can be synonymized with “hate” or any other word that denotes the same thing. 

Bad Grammar: Femi Falana and Falz Give Bobrisky a 12-Hour Ultimatum

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  Background Daddy Freeze is a retired broadcaster and former radio host who has switched into a fiery content creator and social commentator. He has over 150,000 subscribers on YouTube. In this video, he discusses a trending legal scuffle between Femi Falana, a prominent Nigerian lawyer, his son Falz and Bobrisky, an internet personality. My Comments This is the scrawl of social media’s favourite ersatz scholar. A self-proclaimed polyglot who purports to have studied the Bible in all its original languages, yet is unable to correctly spell a familiar Yoruba name or write intelligibly in English. The correct form of this title could be: "Femi Falana and Falz Give Bobrisky a 12-Hour Ultimatum to Apologise and Retract" Or "Femi Falana and Falz Give Bobrisky 12 Hours to Apologise and Retract"

Bad Grammar: Caller Shares With the Ladies How He Contracted HIV

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  Background TVC News is a 24-hour Nigerian news channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. Your View is a daily morning talk show on TVC News. It airs Mondays through Fridays and combines a variety of topics, including lifestyle, politics and trending subjects on social media. The talk show is usually anchored by Morayo Afolabi-Brown along with a bevy of other female co-hosts. The TVC News YouTube channel has 1.2 million subscribers and has posted more than 130,000 videos. My Comments The verb "contacted" is incorrect in this context. The proper verb for acquiring a disease is "contracted," not "contacted." Using "contacted" implies communication rather than the transmission of a disease, leading to confusion. This mistake changes the meaning of the sentence, suggesting that the speaker communicated with the virus rather than became infected with it. There are many other problems with this title. It is structured in a way that implies the caller got t

Bad Grammar: When The Poor Smile

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  Background Tolu TV is a YouTube channel that focuses on a variety of content, including entertainment, lifestyle and pop culture. The channel has approximately 15,000 subscribers and has posted 874 videos. Decoo Jay is a YouTube channel focused primarily on music, featuring a diversity of original songs and collaborations. The channel has approximately 3000 subscribers and has posted 100 videos. "When The Poor Smile" is a Nigerian coming-of-age drama directed by Chris Eneaji. The movie features a notable cast, including Bolanle Ninalowo, Juliet Ibrahim, Kunle Remi, Shaffy Bello and Uche Montana. The release date is October 25, 2024. My Comments This is how severe the problem has become. Content creation and decent writing have deteriorated to such an extent that even when the correct title is staring the content creator in the face, the ability to copy it accurately remains an issue. This is the apex of intellectual laziness. There is no other explanation or excuse fo

Bad Grammar: Come to the Nigerian Foodstuff Market with Me

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  Background Summer Aku is registered nurse who lived in Ireland and has relocated to Nigeria. Her YouTube channel is named Summer Aku Vlogs. It has over 200,000 subscribers and she has posted over a thousand videos. My Comments This is another splash of nonsense from this content creator. She is completely unable to string words together and build a coherent sentence or even write a title for her videos. The errors in her titles are only a tip of the iceberg. Her compositions in the YouTube community tab are still as mediocre. She frequently omits words, spells names incorrectly and cannot use punctuation. She is also impervious to correction. I reached out to her on at least one occasion. The deluge of garbage is hard to fathom at this point. It is utterly absurd. The correct form of this title could be: “Come to the Nigerian Foodstuff Market with Me in This Tinubu Era - Summer Aku” Or “Come with me to the Nigerian Foodstuff Market in This Tinubu Era - Summer Aku”

Bad Grammar: Morayo and the Ladies React

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  Background TVC News is a 24-hour Nigerian news channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. The channel first aired on February 28, 2013 and expanded its reach to the UK via British Sky Broadcasting on June 17, 2013. Your View is a daily morning talk show on TVC News. It airs Mondays through Fridays and combines a variety of topics, including lifestyle, politics and trending subjects on social media. The talk show is usually anchored by Morayo Afolabi-Brown along with a bevy of other female co-hosts. The TVC News YouTube channel has 1.2 million subscribers and has posted more than 130,000 videos. My Comments The TVC News YouTube channel has done it again! They have shelled the internet with another blast from their arsenal of grammatical blunders. It is like an endless volley of shots that just would not cease despite the repeated corrections. This is a news network aiming to communicate information to a global audience. Yet, these errors remind us of how minor grammatical flaws can contaminat

Diddy and Ebuka Look Like Twins in YouTube Thumbnail Pictures

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  Background Diddy is a global celebrity currently battling a legal case involving allegations of sexual misconduct. He is portrayed here in the right thumbnail picture of a YouTube video posted by The Breakfast Club. Ebuka is a Nigerian reality TV personality and currently the host of the Big Brother Naija reality TV show. He is seen on the left in the thumbnail of a video posted by the YouTube channel, Showmax. My Comments At first glance, one could easily assume that both Diddy and Ebuka are the same person due to their shared appearance and style. Both men are wearing dark sunglasses, which, when combined with their confident smiles, create a nearly identical visual impression. This resemblance is a testament to how small elements like sunglasses, a smile and similar grooming can make two individuals appear remarkably similar. Though most people don’t want to be compared to Diddy at the moment, both images are still pictorial doppelgangers. 

Bad Grammar: Health Workers Issue 15-Day Ultimatum

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  Background TVC News is a 24-hour Nigerian news channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. It is known for its focus on Nigerian current affairs and documentaries. It provides coverage of various national issues. The channel first aired on February 28, 2013 and expanded its reach to the UK via British Sky Broadcasting on June 17, 2013. The TVC News YouTube channel has 1.2 million subscribers and has posted more than 130,000 videos. My Comments This is a grammar error from a large Nigerian news outlet, which should have more competent people managing its social media platforms. This error could have been easily avoided if the title had been created using the simplest word processors. This is sloppy work and a bold display of intellectual laziness. The correct form of the title should be: “Health Workers Issue 15-Day Ultimatum to FG” When numbers and time periods—like "day" or "week"—are used as compound adjectives to modify a noun, the time period should be singular

Bad Grammar: Number Plates and Driver's Licence Registration Fees

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  Background NewsMattazz with Princewill TV is a comedic channel with over 5000 subscribers and approximately 1000 uploaded videos. It has evolved into a social commentary channel offering takes on politics, faith and trending news stories. My Comments Princewill is a serial offender when it comes to grammar blunders. Only a handful of his titles are without grammatical errors. This goes to the heart of what I have previously articulated: that many Nigerian content creators are bad writers and are disturbingly incapable of applying the rules of English grammar. They are also unable to take advantage of the countless writing tools that are available on the internet today. The correct form of this title should be: “Number Plates and Driver's Licence Registration Fees to Be Increased From Next Month” The phrase “Number plates” has been written in the wrong order. Then “Drivers Licence” should be in the possessive form, which is “Driver’s Licence” with an apostrophe. Finally,

Bad Grammar: A Well-Detailed Confession from Bobrisky

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  Background Verydarkman is a prominent Nigerian social media personality and activist known for his controversial statements and legal entanglements. He has gained attention for his outspoken nature, particularly regarding issues of corruption and accountability within Nigeria. His YouTube channel currently has 101,000 subscribers. He has posted 358 videos. My Comments On certain occasions, I find it hard to determine whether Verydarkman is communicating in English or perhaps he has invented a language of his own. His spelling is often so poor that I sometimes assume he misspells intentionally. However, intentional poor spelling is different from bad grammar. The first goes to the stylization of writing; the other speaks to the understanding of English writing rules. This particular title has several deficiencies. It has missing articles, omitted punctuation marks and improper spacing. The correct form of the title could be: "A Well-Detailed Confession from Bobrisky, Involving

Bad Grammar: We Didn’t Know Whether Bobrisky Was a Man or a Woman

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  Background Mr. Fantastic Comedy is a YouTube channel that presents mundane issues and trending social media matters with a comedic twist. The channel is known for its humorous takes on various topics and its multilingual delivery. It currently has 73,000 subscribers and has posted 818 videos. The channel promotes itself as featuring the "funniest man on the internet." My Comments The most humorous man on the internet may also be the one with the most horrifying grammar on YouTube, especially among Nigerian content creators. His entire channel overflows with so many poorly-worded titles that they are like a virulent pathogen, one that would not stop until the entire internet world is zombified. These errors are not just typographical missteps; they are grammar flaws that go to the heart of the creator’s understanding of the English language. Unfortunately, the majority of the channels responsible for these blunders are owned by Nigerians. This is the nonsense that ch

Bad Grammar: Anita and I Need to Talk About My Age

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  Background Classic FM 97.3 is a prominent radio station located in Lagos, Nigeria. It is known for its diverse music programming and engaging shows. Its YouTube channel has over 10,000 subscribers and has posted 167 videos to date. This image is from an interview with contestants on the reality TV show Big Brother Naija Season 9. The theme of Season 9 is “No Loose Guard.” My Comments This is another careless, halfhearted work carried out by a media organization that should be setting a high standard for others to emulate. The independent statements in the title are either unclear, poorly arranged or have grammatical problems. The phrasing of the statement: “Kassia and Kellyrae sneaked to touch” is awkward and confounding. A better way to write this could be: “Kassia and Kellyrae sneaked off to touch (something or each other).” The forward slash ‘/’ after the first statement could be replaced with a vertical bar ‘|.’ This would look better and neater. Alternatively, ending the first

Bad Grammar: The House of Reps Committee Threatens To Arrest Verydarkman

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  Background Sahara TV is the YouTube channel of Sahara Reporters, the online media outlet which is headquartered in New York. The channel currently has 678,000 subscribers and has posted 10,000 videos. Sahara Reporters was founded in 2006 by Omoyele Sowore. The organization focuses on citizen journalism, encouraging ordinary individuals to report on issues such as corruption, human rights abuses and political misconduct, particularly in Africa. It places a strong emphasis on Nigeria. My Comments This is ridiculously tacky! A news organization should have a better standard than this nonsense. Sahara TV needs to demonstrate more professionalism in titling their videos. The correct form of the title should be: "The House of Reps Committee Threatens to Arrest Verydarkman for Refusing to Speak Until Bobrisky is Present"