Eh, Yo, Oh

Anyone who lives in Canada or is remotely aware of the culture in the country is aware of the use of the expression, “eh”. It is something that marketers use to create a Canadian identity with their product, American entertainers use to make fun of Canadians, and an expression that we often use unconsciously (some more than others) in conversation.

Here are some examples of the daily uses of the expression:

Your Canadian Friend

“That was a good movie, eh?”

A Canadian Tourist

“Eh, you know where I can find a payphone?"

A Canadian Pimp

“The next time I see you, you better have my money, eh!”

A Canadian That is a Little Too Canadian

“Eh, I was going to store, eh, and when I got there, eh, there was some police, eh. I told ‘em, ‘eh, I don’t talk to the pigs, eh’. I don’t know, eh, but the next thing I knew was I was the floor, eh. Eh, I was wonderin, eh, is that, eh, police brutality, eh”

Being in Canada, we have a major American influence on our lives. With the expansion of the media and the growth of technology, this has only become more pronounced. Over the past few decades, the rise of Hip Hop culture in New York city has come to take roots in every nation on this globe. Along with the icons, fashion, and the artistic cultural elements of Hip Hop, this expansion has also carried particular verbal expressions. One key example is, “yo”.

Whether an American Idol judge is trying to ‘relate to the streets’, Steve Martin / Robin Williams or another actor is trying to impersonate the culture, or people that grew up with the cultural influence are conversing, you will hear “yo”, laced throughout their verbiage.

Here are a few examples of the use of the expression:

Addressing Your Friend Sitting Nearest To The Pizza

“Pass a slice of pizza, yo.”

Greetings Between Friends

“Yo, what’s going on?” “Nothin, yo.”

Excited And Trying To Get Someone’s Attention

“Yo, rewind that part of the movie yo!”

Rapper That Does Not Know What To Say

“Yo, yo…yo, y-y-yo…yoooo”

A Corny Routine Making Fun of Hip Hop

“Yo, yo, yo, It’s Robin Wiggiddi-Williams in the place to be…yo!”

Until last night, I viewed these two expressions as being unrelated. While most of us use one of these expressions, and in some cases both, there are stereotypes that are linked to our idea of the origin each. “Eh” has been epitomized by a Tim Horton’s drinking Leaf fan taking the 401 back to Oshawa. “Yo” seemed to find it’s home in the likes of Ghostface Killah in a live television interview wearing a bathrobe, a coordinated doo-rag on his head, and matching platinum and gold Jesus chains on his neck. However, there is something that I believe is universal about these expressions, and I discovered in it last night in Ghana.

In Ghana, from north to south, whether on television or in a personal conversation, people all over the country use the expression “oh”. This use of “oh” is not to be mistaken with, “Oh wow, that is a nice ring”, or “Oh, that’s ok”; this use of “oh” is very similar to the previous examples of “eh” and “yo”.

Here are some examples of this expression:

Talking About a Politician

“I don’t like that minister, he is very bad-oh”

Friends Making Plans

“I am coming soon-oh. You will be here when I get back-oh?”

Telling A Story

“When we were talking-oh, it was very nice-oh.”

When You Tell Almost Anyone That Something Bad Happened To You

“Oooh, I’m sorry-oh”

All three of these expressions (eh, yo and oh) have been developed within cultural circles that, at their origins, did not have any influence on one another. Ghana and Hip Hop has nothing to do with Canadians saying “eh”, Ghana and Canada have nothing to do with the Hip Hop influence of the use of the word “yo”, and Hip Hop and Canada have no part in the use of the expression “oh” in Ghana.

As the examples show, they each have overlapping uses. They are also similar in that they are used most often in casual settings, they are added to sentences unconsciously, and they are not recognized as ‘proper speaking’.

For example, here are three places where you are not likely to hear these beloved expressions:

CBC National

“In tonight’s top story, Stephen Harper has been elected out of office, eh”

United States Presidential Address

“I would like to welcome to the stage, President George W. Bush, yo!”

Kofi Annan (a Ghanian) Saying Farwell to the UN

“I would like to thank the United Nations-oh, for the opportunity to serve in this prestigious post for the past ten years-oh”

Each of these expressions are used by those raised in each community, and they are also used to identify these communities by those seen as ‘outsiders’. Yet, rather than focus on division, I see this discovery as proof of the unity in humanity.

Talking with a friend from Japan about this subject, she added that they do something similar in her country, which sounds like “oooo”. Then I thought of Barbados and the use of the expression “bai”. I suspect that if you went around the globe, you would find some version of this expression, not recognized as ‘proper grammar’, every where you go.

Having been in Ghana for the past three months, one of the things that has been the strangest for me is that I don’t feel strange being here. Everything feels very natural; I don’t feel like I am on the other side of the world, immersed in a completely different culture, experiencing what most people on the planet will never see with their own eyes (which is all true). I feel like I am taking a taxi home from work, or hanging out with my friends, or working in a radio station. It has been said in different ways by many of the people that have had the greatest impression on us and have been taken as heroes (Ghandi, Mandela, Dr. King, Bob Marley, etc), while are diferences may be as many as sand on the beach, our differences are only a grain of sand on a beach.
(Note: the fact that I wrote this article does not mean that I do not have any work to do, because I do.)