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Homonyms are words that are spelled or sound alike but have different meanings. The word bow, for example, can mean the front of a ship, a wooden stick, to bend at the waist, or a tied ribbon. This linguistic oddity can also cross language barriers. These bilingual homophones, or false friends, include the words aloud (which means ancient in Dutch), gift (which means poison in German), and fart (which means speed in Swedish). In August 2019, we were alerted to another purported false friend: The word maga, which American audiences likely know as the acronym for U.S. President Donald Trump's slogan Make America Great Again, means easily fooled idiot in Nigerian Pidgin. Author Kurt Eichenwald was one of the first to bring mainstream attention to this translation in May 2018: English is the official language of Nigeria. However, pidgin, a grammatically simplified version of a language, is commonly used throughout the country. Nigerian Pidgin, a mixture of English and creole, can also vary slightly depending on the region. As such, it's difficult to pin down a specific definition for the word maga. For instance, Naija Lingo, an online Nigerian Pidgin English dictionary, provided a different definition for the word maga. According to Naija Lingo, this word means really messed up and lists loser as a synonym. The example sentence for maga is my guy na so you maga since you lose your job big fool. Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, a Nigerian linguist who won the Premio Ostana Special Prize for Mother Tongue Literature, a prize given to individuals who advocate for indigenous languages, explored the history of the slang term maga for an article published on Medium in 2017. Túbọ̀sún explained that the word múgùn, which means fool in Yorùbá, another common language in Nigeria, was eventually shortened to maga in Nigerian Pidgin in the early 2000s: According to Túbọ̀sún, maga doesn't mean much as a stand-alone word, but it is a commonly used expression to describe a specific type of victim: an online fool who has parted with his/her money and/or emotions for the promise of millions or the promise of a relationship with a prince across the ocean. The word maga has also made it into Nigerian pop culture. Musician Kelly Hansome released a song in 2008 called Maga Don Pay, loosely translated to the maga has paid up, which, according to Nigerian author Chris Ngwodo, was an ode to Nigeria’s notorious 419 fraudsters; an unabashed psalm of adoration for their nefarious exploits. In 2010, the Microsoft Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria produced a music video that also used the word maga. That song, Maga No Need Pay, aimed to raise awareness about cybercrime. In a press release for the song, Microsoft defined the word maga as victim (emphasis ours): So, in Nigerian Pidgin, the word maga refers to a person who falls victim to an online scam. This fact is often brought up in a way to mock Trump and his supporters. However, it should be noted that this comparison is a bit unfair. In the United States, the word MAGA is typically written out in all-capital letters as it is actually an acronym, not a stand-alone word, for the phrase Make America Great Again. And, as far as we can tell, the acronym M.A.G.A. does not translate to easily fooled idiot in Nigerian.
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