Whenever you are in a fix concerning how best to express yourself, all you need may just be a figure of speech. Although the figurative elements are often associated with literature, many of them have general applications and can save the day at intriguing moments. Just imagine how a simple euphemism or sarcasm could have saved the embattled former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, the day he verbally assaulted a journalist who asked him a question that unsettled him.
When you need to paint a vivid picture of an object or experience, for instance, you can use a simile or metaphor. With simile, you compare two things using as or like while a metaphor is involved when the two things compared are said to be the same:
The lady is as beautiful as a rose. (Simile)
He started looking like a hungry lion after the driver touched his wife’s gown. (Simile)
The market was a sea when I got there. (Metaphor)
The critic said Nigeria was a jungle. (Metaphor)
There are other figures of speech that include irony, personification and hyperbole, which we once discussed in this class. We will, however, concentrate on how sarcasm or euphemism might have saved Fani-Kayode from the crisis. The journalist, Eyo Charles, had asked who was bankrolling the facility tours he is conducting round some states where his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, is in charge. Then, among other ‘unministerial’ expressions, he said the journalist was stupid. The widespread condemnation he has received, some even more odious than ‘stupid’, indicates how grave the error he committed is. He has apologised on about three different occasions, though.
Elders, counsellors, psychologists, and socio-linguists have always said the best way to respond to provocations may be by not saying anything at the moment. Being silent when (or if) provoked is a universal medicine that has eased many dangerous situations. But this hardly applies to the Fani-Kayode’s circumstance as, during a media encounter, silence can hardly be golden. Besides, the meaning of ‘bankrolling’ is far from being insulting as he took it. The Longman and Cambridge dictionaries respectively say it is ‘to provide money that someone needs for business plan, a plan etc.’ and ‘to support person or activity financially’.
Yet, if one finds it compelling to say something negative about another person or something, the knowledge of euphemism can help. A figurative idea that describes an unpleasant scenario mildly, thus lessening the effect of the saying, euphemism can also help you to verbally assault other people without using actual words.
At times, synonyms may help one out when expressing negativity. In the case of Fani-kayode and Charles, however, there is hardly any synonym of ‘stupid’ that could water down the assault. The reason is that the word is so intensely disparaging that all its synonyms seem unbearable. Consider these unintelligent, ignorant, dense, brainless, mindless, foolish, dull-witted, dull, slow-witted, witless, slow, dunce-like, simple-minded, empty-headed, vacuous, vapid, half-witted, idiotic, moronic, imbecilic, imbecile, obtuse and doltish’, from www.lexico.com.
Euphemism is a word or phrase used to avoid an unpleasant or offensive word, as the Cambridge dictionary defines it. When you say a person who has died has passed away, or ‘We have lost him’, or you say he has joined the saints, you have employed euphemism. It is the same figure of speech at play when you say a deceased king has joined his ancestors. On the other hand, sarcasm is ‘the use of remarks that clearly mean the opposite of what they say, made in order to hurt someone’s feelings or to criticise something in a humorous way.’ If someone is talking or reasoning in a way that does not reflect his advanced age or learning, you can say he is talking like a genius. That is sarcasm, and I believe that we all need it at times.
In the case of Fani-Kayode and Charles, couldn’t the former minister have avoided being in trouble if he had sarcastically said any of the following?
“You must have achieved a great feat today by so much attacking my character, saying someone is bankrolling me. Indeed, I really salute you for this.”
“I guess you deserve a lot of applause for saying that someone must be bankrolling me. Great thinking indeed!”
“Mr Charles, are you sure you know the meaning of ‘bankrolling’? Because I am shocked that you feel so comfortable that you have to so openly insult me. Anyway, I am bold to say that I am financially okay enough to bankroll myself as far as these trips are concerned. If you have any facts to prove otherwise, please bring them forward so that you can really be crowned as a super reporter that you are.”
I believe that he would still have made his point by opting for any of such indirect punches, but without incurring much wrath. Of course, generally speaking, many of us are somehow guilty of the Fani-Kayode’s ‘You are stupid’ syndrome. At one level many folks have turned social media into insults and hate media. They haul abuses and curses — personal, tribal and racial — at others day and night. It does not matter whether or not they are talking to a President, monarch, cleric, Nobel laureate, elder or teacher. This is bad, and everyone must watch it. Even when you find what someone is saying disagreeable, there is a tone and there are always less caustic and disrespectful way of commenting on it. Interestingly, an opinion published in ‘Daily Trust’, where Charles works, is also attracting mixed reactions because, in it, the writer too bathes Fani-Kayode with nakedly abusive words.
At another level, you should embrace certain euphemistic expressions when referring to some categories of people, especially those disadvantaged. Stop saying some affected people are disabled. They are not disabled; they are only people with disability, because they also have their abilities. Similarly, it is better to refer to the person with hearing problems as one with hearing loss. Also, the way some of us gleefully call affected people ‘housegirls’, ‘houseboys’, ‘cleaners’ etc. is derogatory. The house helps etc. are not slaves or second-rate citizens, they are our domestic staff.
Lastly, it is wise to be smart when using sex-related terms, especially in public places. Expressions such as male/female or reproductive organs as well as private parts are widely accepted. But, remember, the last expression is ‘private parts’, not private part.
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