A Ghanaian TikTok creator has opened a cultural can of worms, and West Africa is currently fighting over who owns the language. @crystalqueen_arthur, known to her followers as Miss Feisty, posted a video titled “Who are we trying to be?” and went on a full rant about Ghanaians slowly trading their own slang for Nigerian Pidgin — and the internet has not recovered.
Her frustration is raw and specific. Why are Ghanaians calling people “Oga” instead of “Ma” or “Bosu”? Since when did “how far” replace the classic “how be”? Who authorised Ghanaians to start saying “bofo” instead of puff puff? And don’t even get her started on “gele” replacing the original name for head ties.
“If I want to hear these slangs, I will be in Lagos,” she said, exasperated. “I don’t want to be in Ghana hearing this.”
She kept going, pointing out that even Ghanaian pidgin is now sounding suspiciously Nigerian. And when a Twitter user casually described a deceased person as “Kpai” and called it Gen Z slang, she lost it completely. “What concerns you and Kpai? You Ghanaian? What do you know Kpai is?”
But here’s where the plot thickened. Before she could even finish her point, the comment section turned around and aimed the same energy right back at her. The top comments were merciless: “You yourself sound Nigerian.” Her accent, her cadence, the whole delivery — Nigerians and Ghanaians alike pointed it out in unison, and the irony was thick enough to cut.
Miss Feisty, to her credit, had a ready answer. She clarified that she actually lived in Nigeria, has family there, and travels there often. She says that’s exactly why she’s earned the right to speak on this — because she’s lived both cultures and knows the difference intimately.
“I’m not trying to create a discord between Nigerians and Ghanaians,” she insisted. “Everyone should have their own thing.”
Then came the classic closing shot: “I’m not sure Nigerians are going around saying ‘Chale’ or ‘Bosu.'”
@crystalqueen_arthur Who are we trying to be? #fypシ゚viral #Ghanaians ♬ original sound – 🌸Miss Feisty🌸
Now, that particular claim is where things got truly debatable. Commenters from both nations weighed in, arguing that “Chale,” “Charle,” and “Bossu” have been floating across West African borders for decades — shared slang, not stolen property. Others pushed back hard, saying there’s a difference between regional overlap and full-blown linguistic replacement.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian contingent showed up in the comments doing what Nigerians do best — playing. “Nigerian Pidgin is on a mission to recolonise the world,” one user wrote, half-joking, half-prophesying. And honestly, with the global reach of Afrobeats, Nollywood, and Nigerian pop culture, it’s hard to argue the influence isn’t real.
But beneath the jokes, Miss Feisty’s question is landing with a lot of Ghanaians. What happens when the younger generation grows up speaking someone else’s slang, watching someone else’s content, and slowly forgetting the words their grandparents used? Is that cultural exchange, or is that erosion? And can you even complain about it if you sound like the other side yourself?
So, NAIJA TV fam, over to you. Is Miss Feisty speaking truth, or is she fighting a war that’s already lost? Where’s the line between shared West African culture and one nation swallowing another’s identity? And be honest — has Nigerian slang crept into your own vocabulary without permission? Let’s gist.
