gist

In Nigerian English, gist means gossip or a good chat. “I have gist for you” means I have news, usually juicy, and “to gist” means to chat or gossip.

What gist means in Nigeria

As a noun, gist is a piece of news or a rumor (“What’s the gist?”) or gossip in general. As a verb, to gist is to talk, sometimes idly and sometimes seriously: “We were gisting all night.” Wiktionary lists both senses as Nigerian, and Wikipedia notes that many Nigerian websites have whole sections called “gist” for celebrity news and gossip.

Not the usual gist

In standard English, the gist is the main point: “I didn’t read the whole email, but I got the gist.” The Nigerian sense is a different thing entirely, which can confuse visitors. If a Nigerian friend says “come and hear gist,” they don’t want to summarize anything. They want to tell you a story.

Examples

• “Sit down, I have gist for you.”
• “We were gisting till 2 a.m.”
• “What’s the gist with those two? Are they dating?”

Where it came from

It grew out of the ordinary English word. According to Wikipedia, the Nigerian meaning of idle chat or gossip has been included in the Oxford dictionary.

Related terms

• Aproko: a busybody, or the gossip itself.
• Tea: gossip, in US slang.
• Spill the tea: share the gossip.
• Abeg: please.

More Nigerian words are in our Nigerian slang guide.