Sunday, February 3, 2013

An English nuance in Namibia - NOW NOW NOW

There many English nuances in Namibia.  Many fall within the realm of Namlish, a portmanteau that describes the amalgamation of language and country.  Some nuances are extremely subtle, while others...not so much.  Perhaps my favorite English word in Namibia was the word now.  It's used in a form of tautology to express a varying degrees of time.  Sound strange?  Well, here's how it's used.

When someone says now, they really means later.  If the person says now now, then they mean very soon.  But if a person were to say now now now, that that really means right now.

This form of Namlish was commonplace throughout the country.  Often I'd have fun with it, especially in the classroom.  If I wanted the students do something right away, I'd repeat now about a dozen times.      

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