UKO’DE IS NOT JUST SPOON

Majority of Igalas of this generation think that Uko’de simply means spoon. This is a wrong understanding of the language. IGALA Place, in keeping in line with its mandate will attempt to throw more light.

For purpose of clarity, the word Uko’de is a combination of two words being "Uko" and "Ude".

UKO 

Uko ordinarily refers to anything used in scooping food. It could be a spoon or a scrape plate (Uko’je) however, since spoon is the most common form of Uko, it will not be wrong to take the word to mean spoon except other words are added to it to specify the type of Uko. This justifies the fact that people of Ankpa area refer to spoon as Uko.


UDE
Ude on the other part means metal. Any ornament made of metal is said to be made of Ude. That is why hand bangles made of metal are also called Ude owo.



Now, a combination of Uko and Ude simply means Metal Scoop, and by extension, Metal Spoon. It therefore becomes important to agree that Uko’de means metal spoon.

If Uko’de is metal spoon, why then do we still refer to plastic spoon as Uko’de Are? Why do we call aluminum spoon Uko’de Folokpo?

It is therefore submitted that since Uko’de means Metal Spoon, calling a plastic spoon Uko’de Are is erroneous. A plastic spoon should rather be Uko Are. It is in the same vein that referring to a metal spoon as Uko’de Ebije is wrong.

The reasoning behind this is simple. I am sure you will agree that it is wrong to say something like “a rubber metal spoon” or “a metal iron spoon” these of course sound awkward, right?
That is how awkward it is to say Uko’de Are or Uko’de Ebije.

Tell them IGALA Place told you.