UNDERSTANDING TONGUE TRIP,,,,,, By ISAAC OLUSESI

 

My attention has just been drawn to the video, gone viral, on steam, receiving shares and amazing viewers, over the  tongue sneaking out "8years in school."

VIDEO: Click on the image to watch

It is the slip of tongue here, a mistake in speech, usually trivial and minor, paltry and petty, as well as mean and negligible.

The _papsus linguae_ or tongue split is human, generally linked to the over loaded conscious mind, and it's a commonplace occurrence, everyday and everywhere. Tongue slithering is inconsequential. What's important, meaningful and relevant in the final analysis is the internalization of the message as predetermined. 

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate actually meant to say 4years in school. That exactly was the crux, the essential persuasion. Not 8years as slipped out unintentionally by the tongue. He was on presidential campaign in Osun State, ahead of the general ballots this February, a couple of days from now. 

In the particular video instance, the tongue skid or glide occured due to stress, thick all over Tinubu's face and frame, and the time, too closed in on him. But curiously, the tongue slide or sidle didn't happen at all during the press interview with him after the event.

Hear him: "Call me bastard if you spend more than four years in school. We will ensure that our indigent students are supported to write WAEC examinations,  gain admission and actualize  their dreams. We will vote and win by the Grace of God." He was in Osun, apparently addressing the youth demography of Nigeria.

The Freudian slip or parapraxis, a slip of the tongue or pen, is normal, almost inevitably with everybody caught up in time or duty tightness, strain, tensity or tension. 

Tinubu has been on the presidential campaign train across the nation, with the train, trip cocked, Thursday, in Osogbo, state capital. And he's expected the following day, Friday, in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.

And on and on, to the threshold of the general elections, soonest this month.

OLUSESI, Deputy Director, Directorate of Publicity, Research & Strategy, All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State is a member of the State Directorate of Media & Digital Communication, APC Presidential Campaign Coucil (PCC)

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