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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

YouTube User Names That Refer To Race, Skin Color, Ethnicity, Or Nationality (On African Wedding Videos Comment Threads)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents selected user names from YouTube videos of four African weddings. Most of these made up user names refer to the blogger's race, skin color, ethnicity, or nationality. This sample also includes user names that refer to the continent of Africa.

As a bonus, I've added a video of a Nigerian themed African American wedding that was held in Maryland, USA.

Selected user names from that video's viewer comment thread can be found after that video.

This is a companion piece to a post on my Cocojams cultural website: http://cocojams.com/content/made-youtube-user-names-howlin-wolf-video-comment-thread "Made Up YouTube User Names In A Howlin Wolf Video Comment Thread". This is also a companion piece to the pancocojams post: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/made-up-youtube-user-names-in-two.html Made Up YouTube User Names In Two Olatunji Comment Threads

All of those posts focus on examples of made up user names that are found in the viewer comment threads of these featured video/s. By "made up names" I mean a name other than a person's first name & last name, or a person's first name, middle initial, and last name, or a person's first name & the initial of his or her last name. Those names are often referred to as a person's "full name" or a person's "real name". In this context, a person's first name could also be a nickname that is derived from that first name.

I'm interested in documenting types of made up user names on YouTube comment threads because I believe that a review of those types of names can be of folkloric & sociological value. That documentation is of particular urgency because, since June 2012, YouTube has tried to convince its commenters & its video uploaders to switch to the use of their "real names". And it appears that many people have done so.

The Cocojams post whose link is given above contains a larger list of the types of user names that I've found on YouTube comment threads. That post also includes more of my comments about made up user names.

With regard to this specific post, I believe that user names that reference race, skin color, ethnicity, or nationality as well as a person's continent can be indications of self-esteem & self-confidence, and/or an indication of the person's pride in his or her ethnic group and/or nation. All of these can be positive attributes.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, educational, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

FEATURED VIDEOS, SELECTED USER NAMES & COMMENTS
Note: Most but not all of the user names that fit this category from each video are presented here. My failure to include any user name in this post should not be construed to mean that I didn't like those names or didn't approve of those comments.

WARNING: YouTube comment threads often contain profanity, racist, homophobic, sexually explicit, sexist, violent language , and other language that may be NSFWOCV (not suitable for work or children's viewing).

These user name examples are placed in chronological order with the oldest comments posted first, except for any response to a comment. The date of the user names for a particular year are placed under that year.

Example #1: Mary and Emeka Nigerian Traditional Wedding - Procession



Ade Obadina Uploaded on Jul 27, 2011

Union of the Igbo and Yoruba cultures - Mary Temitope Obadina and her bridesmaids make an epic entrance during the traditional Nigerian wedding on 23rd July 2011. This is Mary's bridal procession with her beautiful eligible bridesmaids as she wow's Emeka Kenneth Okoroafor (Igwe - King) with a surprise dance in spectacular style!
-snip-
Notice how the wedding guest converge on the bride and "dash" (spray) her with money.

Here are selected user names from this video's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpAeeyoUn4o

[2010]
zimgal101
-snip-
Editor: "Zim" is a colloquial referent for the African nation of Zimababwe or a person from Zimbabwe.

[2012]
Naijagyal01
-snip-
Editor: "Naija" is a colloquial form of the word “Nigeria”. “Gyal” is a Caribbean patois form of the English word “girl”.

[2013]
QueenCoco Brown

****
Example #2: Wedding entrance African style.mp4



beavadvideo, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2010

African wedding filmed by Beavad Video Productions (www.beavadvideo.com)
-snip-
Several commenters wrote that this is a Zimbabwean wedding.

Here are selected user names from that video's viewer comment thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcX9uNPJJho

[2012]
MsAfricanbeauty1
**
ghanaianbeauty90
**
noirrosa
-snip-
Editor: The English translation for the French word “noir” is “black”.

****
Update: July 11, 2015: This is another clip of the initial video (published by Shadreck Rukweza, Uploaded on Jul 29, 2010) that I initially embedded for this post. That video doesn't appear to be available any longer. The names listed below the video are from the initial video.

Example #3: Wedding Dance Moves in HD


Published on Jan 25, 2014


Extraordinaire dance très beau mouvement d'ensemble
-snip-
This is a wedding in Zimbabwe.

Here are selected user names from that video's viewer comment thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG2O7kRsdh8

Editor: I added the first two comments for informational purposes.

[2011]
congobk10
"this is wonderful!! where are you guys from?"
Reply
zulunatic1
"@ congobk...we are all from Zimbabwe but we based in the UK"

[2012]
missbenin91
**
lightskin003
**
africankween24
-snip-
Editor: "kween" is an alternative way of spelling "queen".
**
malawianbabe1
**
kenyagirl2009
**
MsAfricana1
**
MrShonaguy
**
hausasfinest

****
Example #4: Wedding exit dance



Samuellyc, Uploaded on Oct 19, 2011

Bevis and Mutale's exit dance at their incredible wedding in Zambia. For all those asking the track is Grippe Aviaire by DJ Lewis.
-snip-
This is a wedding in Zambia.

Here are selected user names along with their comments from that video's viewer comment thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7XWnnEhuPc

[2012]
Boricua StayBlem
"Amazingly stunning Bride! anddddd You guys had FUN! thats a real wedding. Love the dance."
-snip-
Editor: “Boricua” is the Taíno term for Puerto Rico.
**
baby9ja
"this is cute :)"
-snip-
Editor: I believe that “9ja” is a texting way of writing “Naija”. “Naija” is the colloquial term for Nigeria; Nigerian.
**
MsAfricanbeauty1
"Grippe Aviaire by DJ Lewis. [response to the question “whats the name of this song?”]
**
indialove101
"dis is wassup :-) i love this"
**
africanpride69
"Ohhh les africaines. Love it. Bride looks soo lovely."
[2013]
ebonyladyy 3 weeks ago
"J adore!!!!"
**
datghanabeautyAfia
"awwww luv de dance wat country is that?"
-snip-
Editor: This user name is "dat (that) ghana beauty Afia". “Afia” is a Akan [Ghanaian]female name.

****
BONUS VIDEO
African Wedding/Sharon and Mike Pt 3



gospeltributes, Uploaded on Jan 7, 2010

Sharon and Mikes Wedding at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel in Maryland.
-snip-
A number of comments from Nigerians & other Africans pointed out that while the wedding parties' outfits were Nigerian, a masquerade (meaning a stilt walker) would never be included in a Nigerian wedding. Another difference that a commenter shared other differences between this ceremony and Nigerian wedding ceremonies is that the guests in Nigerian weddings don't remain standing separate from the official wedding party. Compare this bridal party entrance to the entrance that occurs in Example #1 of this post. That said, I sincerely commend Sharon & Mike for the obvious research that went into their conceptualization of their Nigerian themed wedding ceremony.

Here's a list of the user names from that video's viewer comment thread that referenced skin color, race, ethnicity, nationality, or a continent (i.e. "African")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICnYVrCKjPQ

[2012]
gold9ja
-snip-
Editor: gold9ja probably means gold naija ("Naija" is a colloquial way of saying "Nigeria"/"Nigerian"
**
blackbono lala
**
blaquecherry419
-snip-
Editor: "blaque" is an alternative contemporary way of spelling "black"
**
Africaunite2020
[2013]
blkghanaprincess
-snip-
Editor: blkghanaprincess= black ghana princess

****
ACKNOWLEGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all of those persons who are featured in these videos. Also, much respect and best wishes to each of the wedding couples. My thanks also to all of the commenters whose user names are featured in this post. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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