Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series about the 2018 Burna Boy song "Ye".
Part III presents comments about the traditional exclamation "ye" and similar exclamations that are found in West Africa, elsewhere in Africa, and in the Caribbean. These selected comments are from a sub-thread of the discussion thread for the official YouTube video of Burna Boy's song "Ye".
The Addendum to this post presents information about the word "ye" from http://naijalingo.com.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/01/nigerian-afrobeat-singer-burna-boy-ye.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I presents information about Nigerian Afrobeat singer, songwriter Burna Boy and showcases a YouTube video of his hit 2018 song "Ye".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/01/what-burna-boys-song-ye-is-really-about.html for Part II of this series. Part II presents selected comments about the meaning of Burna Boy's song "Ye" from the discussion thread for the official YouTube video of that song.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and linguistic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Burna Boy for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to Burna Boy for publishing this video on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from a sub-thread for the YouTube discussion thread of the official video for Nigerian singer, songwriter Burna Boy's 2018 hit entitled "Ye". The word "ye" is the title and refrain for that song. Although the word "Ye" is pronounced like the English words "yeah" and "yay", it doesn't mean "yes".
This pancocojams post focuses on traditional meanings for the exclamation "Ye" and similarly spelled and used exclamations.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/01/some-contemporary-vernacular-meanings.html for a pancocojams post entitled "Some Contemporary Vernacular Meanings For The Word "Ye" (thanks to Kanye West & Osh)"
I also plan to publish a pancocojams post that presents comments about Nigerian Pidgin English and Jamaican Patois. That post will have the tag "Nigerian Pidgin English" and "Jamaican Patois".
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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE WORD "YE" IN "BURNA BOY'S SONG WITH THAT TITLE
(from the discussion thread of that song's official YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPe09eE6Xio)
I've added numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.
1. IAmATanker TheTankerIsMe, 2018
"For all those that are not familiar “Ye” is an exclamation Nigerians do when they are surprised, excited, shocked or scared. Normally with this action as demonstrated in the emoji 🙆🏾♀"
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2. Miss Krystal63, 2018
"IAmATanker TheTankerIsMe thanks for the information because I really didn’t, now if I could hear it being use on a sentence would be great"
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3. May Show, 2018
"@Miss Krystal63 Ye! They have increased my rent."
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4. yanos95, 2018
"Not only for Nigerian....we use it in our carribeean islands too. Big up!"
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5. Esther Nimoh, 2018
"In Ghana too 🇬🇭"
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6. WhoIs _Mja, 2018
"Congoleses use it too"
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7. Oumar B, 2018
"Cameroonians too"
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8. Georgia, 2018
"Ye kpa!!!!"
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9. Matipa Kombe, 2018
"In Zambia we say "Iye" "
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10. KazzaNorthside, 2019
"Ye wo"
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11. No Name, 2019
"@yanos95 not in my Caribbean islands. We say woi or woyoi not ye. Lol What island are you from?"
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12. Osho Eigbe, 2019
" 'Ye' is used by Yoruba people in nigeria only, Or non Yorubas that are familiar with the Yoruba people/language."
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13. Ant Nam, 2019
"Ye is Yoruba not the whole of Nigeria, but Yoruba culture influences all."
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14. Don Souza, 2019
"Not only Nigerians do the exclamation."
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15. Naija guy, 2019
"another example is the olamide's song "motigbana" probably the best example of the exclamation been used ."
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16. Fatoumata Bah, 2019
"@Matipa Kombe In Guinea we say the same thing too, well fulani people anyway"
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17. No Bad, 2019
"Like yikes ! Or OMG"
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18. INDIGO, 2019
"It is similar to what is said in Ghana
Ghanaians say Eei to express shock or excitement.
Good to know that"
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19. Paul Norix, 2019
"Ye pa, gbese re o"
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20. Akin Akinsanya, 2019
"You can substitute ye for WTF in some instances."
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21. Traore Assinatou, 2019
"IAmATanker TheTankerIsMe it isn’t just nigerian but all of the Africa ❤️"
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22. The Boss ManTing, 2019
"Africa and Carribeans"
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23. Lolawofhhgt #, 2019
"Ivory Coast too🇨🇮"
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24. Ruth gebreyes, 2019
"Ethiopia we say weYE Lmaoo close enough"
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25. TheLaLa0077, 2019
"basically west africans use it..."
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26. Ant Nam, 2019
"All of a sudden everyone wants to be included, but if its negative, they will say its those Nigerians, don't groups us all together. YE!!!!!"
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27. Chelly Quamie, 2019
"Osho Eigbe it is also used in Caribbean islands as it was Yoruba people who were stolen and brought to these islands."
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28. Kay AK, 2019
"I think we found the unifying anthem. I have heard many people use the expression "Ye"- Nigerians, Ghanaians, Cameroonians & Jamaicans. My mom usually follows this with 🙆🏿♀"Ewurade" ...which makes "Ye! Oh my God! ", I think. Absolutely love this song!"
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29. ines M., 2019
"In Congo sqme expression but Hé"
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30. Juste Moi, 2019
"Malian too"
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31. rachel bello, 2019
"LOL to everyone in the comments who are saying not only Nigerians, not only Nigerians.. its is literally a word from the YORUBA ppl of Nigeria and is popular al throughout our country. Other countries may know it because it’s used so frequently, but it is a Nigerian word luvs looool"
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32. rachel bello, 2019
"Traore Assinatou Traore Assinatou it is literally a word derived from a tribe in Nigeria... you guys just decide to use it. Which is fine, but y’all need to stop sayin it isn’t just for Nigerians."
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REPLY
33. Zuba Dambal, 2019
"We use too from Ethiopia 🇪🇹 yeee ,heee ,haaa etc all my black fans are using it anyway" "
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ADDENDUM- INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD "YE" FROM NAIJALINGO.COM
From http://naijalingo.com/words/ye-pa
"Ye pa
Definition:Yikes!
Example: Yepa yawa don gas means there's a problem"
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From http://naijalingo.com/words/yeee
"Yeee
Definition:Exclamation, usually negative
Example: Yeee, my leg dey pain me oh.
Synonyms: ehn”
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This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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