Proverbs
Proverbs and idiomatic (ilu in Igbo) expressions are highly valued by the Igbo people and proficiency in the language means knowing how to intersperse speech with a good dose of proverbs. Chinua Achebe (in Things Fall Apart) describes proverbs as "the palm oil with which words are eaten". Proverbs are widely used in the traditional society to describe, in very few words, what could have otherwise required a thousand words. Proverbs may also become euphemistic means of making certain expressions in the Igbo society, thus the Igbo have come to typically rely on this as avenues of certain expressions.
Read more about this topic: Igbo Language
Famous quotes containing the word proverbs:
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 15:1.
“Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 4:24.
“Children suck the mother when they are young and the father when they are old.”
—English proverb, collected in J. Ray, English Proverbs (1670)