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Lexicon Valley

How Did Nigeria Get Its Name?

Lexicon Valley

Lexicon Valley

Education, Society & Culture

4.8611 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You might guess that Nigeria and Niger derive their names from the Latin word for “black,” especially since both countries were formerly colonized by Europeans. Guess again. John explains. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lexicon Valley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. A Booksmart Studios production. Bonus: "How Did Nigeria Get Its Name?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved. Bonus segments are normally for paying subscribers only, but we’re making this week’s free for all! To support our work, please consider becoming paying subscriber. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lexicon Valley⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. A Booksmart Studios production. Bonus: "How Did Nigeria Get Its Name?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, I'm Ryan Eggled from TV shows like New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, and of course, leave it to Beaver. You're on that? I was the Beaver. Didn't know. And I'm Adam Rose, an actor on TV, blue cardigan guy on your social medias, and Avid Speedwalker. We're the hosts of Small Stupid Stuff, an important new podcast from Studio 71. Ryan and I talk about the big issues, the heavy questions, pressing topics.

0:21.9

Like coffee date etiquette?

0:23.4

Best time to eat cereal.

0:24.9

And of course, whether you put your toilet paper over or under or around.

0:29.5

I don't know what around is.

0:30.9

I don't either, but I'm definitely an over man.

0:32.7

Yeah.

0:33.1

Every episode, we're joined by a celebrity guest who gives us their hottest takes on the stupidest,

0:38.7

smallest stuff.

0:39.6

Jocco Sims, Michelle Carrey, Alex Breckenridge, Pete Haversberger, Amber Childers.

0:46.6

Our goal is to solve the world's problems by finally figuring out the truth about crap that doesn't

0:51.8

matter.

0:52.3

So listen to Small Stupid Stuff on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:57.8

And watch us on YouTube, new episodes every Tuesday.

1:01.0

Stop.

1:06.3

For the bonus segment, for our West African show, I wanted to give you some things that I couldn't get in for time in the body of the episode itself.

1:17.6

One of those things is the Niger, or you might think of it as the Niger River.

1:25.8

Have you ever thought about the fact that there are two countries, Nigeria and Niger,

1:31.0

or Niger, as some people sometimes call it? And you might think that where those countries get

1:37.0

their names is something colonial and highly unfortunate. You might think that Nigeria means

1:43.0

basically blackia and that that's what

1:44.8

Niger means too. You know, that's actually not true. And many people from those countries think

...

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