Welcome to the Lane...!
Our elders
say “a word to the wise is enough” I never understood this this statement until
recently, it simply means that a fool does not heed to advise! How true….there
is also a saying in Akan that goes like “akwa nyasafo ye bu nu b3 nye ka na
asem(forgive me for my bad twi) this literally means that “a wise person is best
advised through a proverb not a long sermon” ….no wonder many African languages
are laced with so many proverbs…from the
Berber of north Africa, the Akans, Ewe, Gas, all of Ghana, the Ebo and the
Yoruba of Nigeria and right down to the Zulu of south Africa, Africans employ
this device to record history and pass on wisdom.
The use of proverbs in one’s speech shows ones
level of command of a language. It is therefore not strange for an elder to
start a conversation with a proverb pause with one and end the conversation
with another. So the next time you speak with an elder pay close attention and don’t
miss those snippets of wisdom brewed in the African pot.
Below is an
index of proverbs taken from all over the continent…I will keep on updating
this page till I get all of them here -on the lane-almost an impossibility but
try I will!
Ghanaian proverbs
