POLE!!

I am of the opinion that "Pole" is the very best word in the Swahili language. In fact, it might be the best word in any language. And I'm not alone in this opinion.

"Pole" means "sorry" in Swahili. And it is often used just as "sorry" is used in English or "lo siento" is in Spanish. But it also has this other, more sarcastic connotation. Used this way, it is much closer to "that sucks" in English. And sometimes it comes across even more sarcastic than that ... kind of like, "sucks for you!" As a result, people in Tanzania often say "pole" or "sorry" while not sounding sorry at all. And of course, we expats jumped on this and started using "pole" more and more sarcastically. I realize that this view of "pole" as sarcastic is probably just the misunderstanding of a non-Swahili speaker, but it's a misunderstanding that I'm happy not to correct. This is what I like about "pole"!

Now, after approximately two years of "pole" in Tanzania, I am struggling to return to a life where people around me don't understand "pole". I still can't come up with an equivalent English phrase. So instead, I find myself trying to introduce "pole" to people who have never been near East Africa. Unfortunately, this feels like a lost cause...

But maybe with this blog post, I can persuade a very, very small segment of the global population to adopt "pole". Think about it...