January 20, 2006
A Scholar Compiles More Than 5,000 Proverbs of the Yoruba
THE WRAP ON PROVERBS: Yoruba elders are appalled when youngsters speak to them in proverbs. Protocol governs the pervasive use of such sayings in the life of the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin, says Oyekan Owomoyela, a professor of African literatures at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
"According to etiquette, a younger person does not use them to an older person," says Mr. Owomoyela. "That would be considered presumptuous. Elders might acknowledge that a younger person
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