This happened back when I was in junior secondary school, and whenever I remember it, I can't help but laugh.
There was this girl in my class who wanted to be our teacher's sidekick, but unfortunately, she ended up asking to be his side chick.
Let me explain how it happened.
Back then, we attended a government public school, and honestly, speaking English wasn't really our thing. We communicated mostly in Yoruba because that was what we were comfortable with. We could spend the whole day discussing different things in Yoruba without any problem, but ask some of us to speak English and you would see us struggling to put our words together.
Everything changed when a new teacher was transferred to our school. The funny thing was that the man was also a Yoruba person, but he didn't tolerate us speaking Yoruba during school hours. He banned it completely, and anyone caught speaking Yoruba would receive two strokes of cane and pay a fine of ₦20.
Imagine paying a fine for speaking your own language. When we asked him why he was so serious about it, he explained that we needed to improve our English. According to him, what would happen if we were invited for an inter-school competition and we couldn't communicate properly in English? It would be embarrassing to the school.
He then introduced a rule that we must learn five new English words every day and practise using them during our free periods.
I think this particular girl was really enjoying the new arrangement because she wanted to show that she was also learning.
One day, immediately the teacher entered the classroom, this girl stood up confidently and shouted "Sir, I WANT TO BE YOUR SIDE CHICK!"
Please, I need you to imagine the look on our teacher's face. For a moment, I believe even the teacher didn't know what to say. The whole class was looking at her, wondering where that one came from.
But the funniest part was that she wasn't even joking. She genuinely believed she had said something good. When the teacher asked her if she knew the meaning of what she had just said, she proudly answered yes. She went ahead to explain that she wanted to be his assistant.
That was when the teacher explained the difference between a sidekick and a side chick. Apparently, she wanted to say sidekick, which means an assistant or close companion, but she ended up saying side chick, which has a completely different meaning.
You can imagine what happened next. We laughed and laughed. Some people couldn't even control themselves. The girl who wanted to impress the teacher had suddenly become the biggest joke in the classroom. I felt for her, but honestly, it was difficult not to laugh.
And guess what? That wasn't even the end of the matter. From that day, whenever the teacher entered the classroom and didn't see her, he would ask, "Where is my side chick?"
That was how she got the name, and we continued calling her side chick until we finished secondary school. I wonder if she still remembers that incident today. I hope she can laugh about it now because we definitely had a good laugh back then.
But jokes aside, that teacher really helped us. Although we complained about his strict rules at the time, we gradually became better at speaking and understanding English. Those five new words we learnt every day actually made a difference.
Looking back now, I think we had some really funny experiences growing up in public school. Sometimes, the memories are more entertaining than the lessons themselves.
But one lesson I learnt from that incident is that before you proudly use a new word in public, make sure you understand what it means. You might think you are applying for the position of a personal assistant, only to end up applying for the position of a side chick.
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