#Upandan makes the Urban Dictionary

Words and meanings

I have always been fascinated with words and the origin of words, etymology, to be precise. Whilst I am not given to neologisms, I would have the tendency to use a word than a phrase to convey ideas or thoughts.

With the advent of Twitter and the limitation of 140 characters, I have learnt precision, concision and brevity without sacrificing the quality of words for the new fads of SMS Text English.

Nothing irks me as much as the bizarre and lazy economy of expression where vowels are dispensed with and homophones replace words, I will not acknowledge any of that sort of text in my writing and so inadvertently giving the sloppiness legitimacy.

Whilst I would not fancy myself a sesquipedalian, the English vocabulary is just too wide to limit oneself to the common and rudimentary. My view is we should all use any opportunity to learn more about unfamiliar and unusual words.

My foray into lexicography

Then again, I am neither a pedant nor a purist in the strict sense of the word, I just like things done properly.

A few months ago, I came upon a word on Twitter, “Upandan”, at first, I did not know what it meant and so I searched for it online, in the usual dictionaries and the Urban Dictionary, there was no definition, but much usage.

The context in which “Upandan” was used was interesting and expressive, I liked it and it was in fact, a Nigerian colloquialism, a corrupt of the phrase, “Up and down” and generally carrying much of the context and meaning along.

Some examples of usage are:

Stop chasing the girl upandan. [Attention seeking.]

I was going upandan in the building looking for the right people to talk to. [Helter-skelter.]

He is begging chiefs upandan. [Desperation.]

The application and usage can change in context and inflexion, the examples given not being exhaustive.

Love and share

In any case, I am generally not a self-publicist, I have once managed a mass blogging activity celebrating my decade of blogging and have been invited to moderate a session on #BokoHaram, beyond that, I mainly keep to my blog and general commentary on Twitter or Facebook.

However, I am excited at the acceptance of my ‘Upandan’ entry on the Urban Dictionary and this is how I defined Upandan:

A corruption of 'up and down' suggesting a frenzied running from pillar to post in desperation; especially when in trouble or trying to curry favour with personalities to influence circumstances or gain preferential support. (Nigerian origin.)

Typical usage: He is begging chiefs upandan.

Please visit the page to like it, retweet it, love it and share it on Facebook.

Thanks.