ORIGIN OF WHY HAUSAS CALL IGBOS "NYAMIRI" 

It is supposedly derogatory but the origin isn't really.

I spent a lot of my long vacations in the north of Nigeria growing up and asked questions about this word and this is what my relatives told me.

In northern Nigeria,it was common to see Hausas selling water on the streets,I saw that a lot in Jos.

They carried the containers tied to a wooden bar they hung on their necks

Igbos would yell out " Onye mmiri" which means " the one selling water" in order to attract the attention of the water seller

My family member had an eatery and we had an Onye Mmiri that came daily to fill up the container

Then the word Onye Mmiri i was told now became what they called their buyers and because of language,they called it Nyamiri which was the way it sounded to them.

The buyer called the seller Onye Mmiri,the seller called him nyamiri and with time Igbos and Easterners in general became known as Nyamiri.

This is a fascinating story,at least I was fascinated by it when I heard it.

It reminds me of how the word gay,an English word that is a synonym for happy has come to mean what it is not.

There are people named Gay,it sounds strange now when you hear it because of the metamorphosis the word has taken.

Interesting isn't it?

Who else has heard this story?

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