SA’s Joburg ranked second to Nigeria’s Lagos for swearing

With a slew of traffic and street lights that don’t function, countless potholes which worsen with each week and the city’s executive mayor’s position under threat, the dysfunctionality in Johannesburg (Joburg) makes it easy to see why it’s ranked the second most foul-mouthed city in Africa.

WordTips analysed a sample of 1.7 million English-language tweets and found the percentage of swear words used by X users from different countries.

On the African continent, Johannesburg came second just behind Nigeria’s Lagos as the city that uses cuss words to express themselves. The study found that Johannesburg is the second most profane city in Africa, with 19.8 tweets per 1,000 featuring curse words.

“It used to be that the only media you could consume was highly edited,” said the author of What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves, Benjamin Bergen.

“With social media, all of a sudden, now we have direct access to people’s informal language. If we have access to people’s informal communication and it includes more profanity, that just means we’re going to be exposed to more of it and that’s going to normalise it, and so people have become inured.”

Ghana’s Accra (15.3 tweets) and Kenya’s Nairobi (12.9 tweets) were ranked third and fourth respectively, with Nigeria’s third-largest city by population Ibadan rounding up the top five with 12.1 tweets per 1,000 featuring curse words.

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Chidimma Adetshina invited to Nigeria

Former Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Adetshina has received an invitation to participate in the Miss Universe Nigeria pageant following her withdrawal from the South African pageant amid questions surrounding her citizenship.

The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss SA pageant on Thursday after the Department of Home Affairs revealed that it had found prima facie evidence of fraud and identity theft committed by Adetshina’s mother.

The department found this after it launched an investigation into her citizenship.

The National Director of the Miss Universe Nigeria, Guy Murray-Bruce, formally invited Adetshina to take part in the competition.

“As a Nigerian by heritage, we would like to formally invite you to participate in the Miss Universe Nigerian 2024 pageant. This is an opportunity to represent your father’s native land on an international stage, and we believe you would be an outstanding contender.

“We encourage you to consider this opportunity and take part in a competition that celebrates the strength, intelligence and diversity of Nigerian women. Should you wish to participate, all you need to do is respond to this invitation and we will be delighted to guide you through the next steps,” said Murray-Bruce.

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