Words of Our Elders

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORDS OF OUR ELDERS
Before the advent of the contemporary commercial system the African had traded by Barter - the rare art of exchange of goods for goods. The power and beauty of this dignified trading system is based on the ability of the negotiators to out bid the other. This is based therefore on the oratory power of both parties. The one therefore who has the better or stronger diction always excels in these commercial exercises. These occasions demand deft negotiations, biddings and bargains without the use of scales and in most cases any sort of measuring yet a sort of balance must be reached at the end of these ventures.
However, it is when terms like haggling or bantering are used to describe this beautiful art of trading that it loses its credence and made to look bogus.
The good thing however is that in this period in the story of Africa, it is those that are adapt in the use of idioms, proverbs and such wise sayings of the African that become rich and powerful in the society.
When an African mother leaves for the market to buy or to sell the children will wish her to "outwit those whom you meet in the market today, may they not outwit you". However sometimes the mother comes back from the market to admit that she had made bad bargains that day, for that day she had met those who outwitted her.
Amongst the Africans it is said that idioms are used to confound the fools and perplex the untutored. It is also said that the idiom is the spice with which words are eaten. It is maintained amongst these verbally proficient people that the one to whom an idiom is used and it is necessary to explain it to him, the bride price paid on behalf of his mother is in vain. In other words such a one is a bastard in the traditional African society. He could be standing with peers or even kin and that which belongs to him is disposed off without him knowing what is going on.