The 27th of October was not a regular day in the world of Professional Golfers Association (PGA), it was a historic one. Holding the golf club and hitting the last stroke that got the entire PGA world excited was Tiger Woods. Renowned Champion whose good tie with clubs is shown by the way he fills the holes with less strokes.

Although he wasn’t new to the glory of reaching the holes in the quickest time, on Sunday, he equaled 32 years historic record of Sam Snead, and there is hope of surpassing it. Late Golfer, Sam Snead held the PGA record of 82 all-time wins, a historic feat he attained at the age of 52, in 1987.

But Woods cut time some slack, winning at the nick of 43 years old, sparing nine years, maybe, to set his own record.

The ecstasy that followed the 82 all-time wins equalizer isn’t centered on the record only, but where he, Tiger Woods, was coming from to equal it.

Turbulent times that altered the glory that Woods once basked on created a dim hope, a near impossible belief that he would get out of it standing on his feet, muchless being celebrated again.

It was a bone-breaking knock down of a family misfortune, emanating from his own doing that set the uncertainties right into his career paths. Woods had a career flop following his wife’s divorce from him, owing to his own infidelity. In his struggle to emancipate himself from the mental torment and social stigma, he took a long break from the game, though injury was going to beckon despair upon him.

From back to knee to shoulder, he went under the knife and it kept him on the sidelines for a chunk of career time, dimming some hope of record he has set previously. Woods had admitted on Sunday, in Japan, that he began eyeing the all-time victories record when he inched “north of 50 wins” on the career list. But it was after his No. 79 victory, at 2013, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, that things became more interesting.

The mountain of injuries that followed made the hope of chasing Sam Snead’s record, a mere dream. And then there was a five years drought after the injuries, compounding the woes. It was until 2018 that fortune beamed its smile on him once again, and there’s a recipe for victory to be tasted after the hunger. He said:

“I went through some rough patches with my back and didn’t play for a number of years, so that record seemed like it was out of reach.

“Having had my fourth back procedure and being able to come back and play at a decently high level again, it put the number back in the conversation once again. Lo and behold, here we are tied with Snead.”

A few years ago, many would have laughed at the suggestion that Woods would be making the above statement. But the tide turned and fortune beckoned the sweet wind, not even his fourth surgery could stop him.

He started the week with three consecutive bogeys and appeared headed to what would understandably amount to a rehab start following nine weeks of competitive inactivity. His final 69 holes received touches of his inward resilience – opening a two stroke lead with back-to-back rounds of 64, enduring a grueling 29-hole Sunday to set up Monday’s spirit.

The charisma that glued millions of eyeballs to the TV screen whenever Tiger’s playing has been rekindled, and his mates can’t help but applaud the prodigy.

Gary Woodland, who was grouped with Woods for the final two rounds saw the history from a professional viewpoint and has this to say:

“The ball striking exhibition I’ve seen the last two days is a joke. I don’t see him stopping anytime soon. 82 is pretty special, I think there’s a lot more in store.”

Others didn’t reserve their excitement: As players took their positions around the TV in the clubhouse to watch the finish, one of them, Joel Dahmen, who couldn’t leave because he wanted to witness the history said.

“How many times are you going to get a chance to see this? Never, right.”

The correct answer should be “a little time” because it will take just one more win for Woods to set his own record. Meanwhile, the club wielding arms in cage have found its way to freedom, and once again, the Tiger roars in the Woods.

Men say women talk too much. Well, they are right. Even women tell men that are quarrelsome that they “talk like women” (go figure). But women don’t ‘talk too much’ they only ‘talk differently’. Just hang on, more light will be thrown on this later.

If I’m asked, I’ll say that the way women talk has something to do with the societal influence (you know the ‘talk like a woman’ thing?) and hormonal make-up. If you have noticed, a woman has a cycle that she passes through within each month. In a month, a woman completes this cycle by passing through different stages, which ends where it started. Each stage of this cycle brings a different personality in her because of the different dramas played by her hormones – she has the lamb stage, tigress stage, snake stage and the dove stage (please don’t quote me). So, the stage you meet a woman in determines the type of response and reaction you get from her. Just stating this here because a priest just advised a man to know when to balk if her wife brings up the ‘woman’s madness’ in her. So, don’t blame women when they all of a sudden act ‘somehow’ because it technically isn’t their fault.

Whether it is hormone or society, the major thing is that men and women talk differently. These two different genders have been discovered to relay the same message using different languages or varieties of a language – men use more formal language while women stick to informal tone.

Now, I want to give a brief example of this assertion. If you tell a man and a woman (you are close to) that you like their outfits, their responses will be more like this:

Man: Thank you. (end of discussion)

Woman: Wow! Are you serious? Thank you. You just made my day. Are you sure you are not pulling my legs because you did it the other day? This clothe is cheap o, I just bought yesterday from …… (story continues and may even bring on more unrelated stories).

All these stories by the woman don’t make her vain, brainless or talkative, like most men assert, it’s just the way she was programmed. If you cut her short she will think you are insensitive or something; so just allow her to flow because it’s her way of telling you that she appreciates your kind gesture.

Well, below are the characteristics of women’s speech and writing patterns (like some of you must have noticed in mine – lol).

1. Embellishments: Women embellish their expressions; they don’t use plain language. They use lots of idioms, innuendos, similes, ‘codes’ and some imaginative details in their speech and writing. For example, where a man will say “walk fast”, a woman will say “walk like you’re in a hurry”, or “don’t walk like a snail” and things like that. The thing is, women don’t talk plainly. Whatever they tell you isn’t the real message because it is just the surface meaning; look deeper and you will understand what they truly mean (sorry I can’t explain further than this).
2. Use of Adverbs: I read somewhere that people should minimise the use of adverbs in their speeches and writings because it makes them sound unsure. Well, I didn’t blame the writer because he’s a man, and wouldn’t understand why women will say things like “the food was just so, so hot” instead of saying “the food was hot”.
3. Use of Informal Language: I stated this earlier. Women use more of casual expressions than men. I don’t really know, but I think that’s one of the reasons children are closer to their mothers – they make conversations easier. Women are chatty in their discussions because they make greater use of everyday language in speeches and writings. They are more comfortable with ‘unserious’ languages than their male counterparts. Now you understand why most women don’t like discussing business ideas with men unless the man doesn’t sound too technical.
4. Verbosity: Women ‘talk too much’ because they use lots of words to explain a simple phenomenon. A man will go straight to the point and hit the nail on the head but a woman will take her time, beat around the bush and employ all the words employable to explain that concept. This quality makes women better teachers and mentors. It also makes them sound more polite.
5. Endearments: Use of terms of endearment is characteristic of women’s speech. I can’t explain why but it is true. You may notice that even as an adult your mother still calls you ‘nwa m’ (my child), ‘dear’, and other endearing names. If you greet a man he will just answer you back and maybe add a passive “How are you?”; but a woman will embellish the response with endearing terms.
6. Use of Descriptive Language: Women describe rather than prescribe. In prescription, you go straight to the point to tell the person what to do. But in the description, you employ lots of words to paint images in the mind of your listener or reader so that he will understand what needs to be done. I don’t know if this makes sense.
7. Request: Men command (or rather, demand) while women request. If you have tasted both male and female bosses, you will understand. This is the reason a male boss will say “you” while a female one uses “we”.
8. Questions: Yes, women ask lots of questions while talking. It takes other women and men that understand the language of women to know that those aren’t questions, but statements in question forms (you may call it rhetorical questions). So when next a woman asks you if you went for a meeting, don’t just tell her ‘yes’ and wait for more questions. What she’s actually saying is, “tell me what happened at the meeting” or “why you went for the meeting”.
9. Use of Emotive Language: If you leave a woman to handle the affairs of the world alone, she may cause World War III. This is because she has this innate gift of using words to create strong emotions that can cause people to act (positively or negatively) against their wills. So, when next a woman tells you something that ‘scatters your head’, pardon her, na the way she was programmed o. Mind you, every woman has this quality; that you haven’t seen it in the woman around you is because she has not been given the opportunity to use it. The only problem I see here is that this quality prevents most women, if not all, from seeing things objectively. So I think we women need to work seriously here so we can only use this special gift positively.
10. Uncertainty: Women always sound uncertain when they talk. They cover this up sometimes by using hanging sentences and expressions like “I don’t know …”, “I think …”, “it could be …” and so many others that expose them for being less dogmatic. Note that this doesn’t mean that you can impose your own opinion on them; this quality only makes them look submissive when they may not really be so. I think this quality is influenced by the society.

So, next time you talk to a woman, give her speech to write, or a business letter to produce, remember why she sounded the way she did. And women, I believe you have gained a little insight into why you just can’t sound like your male colleagues despite how hard you’ve tried.

Y’hello Digital Financial Services (YDFS) Limited, a subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, has launched its financial service product named MoMo Agent in Kano.

The launch was held at Danbatta and Wudil markets in Kano. Speaking at the event, the Senior Manager, Sales and Distribution, MTN Nigeria, Kano, Kumar Abubakar, said there is need to bridge the gap between the banked and unbanked, especially in Danbatta area of Kano.

He said that a large number of the town’s populace are either unbanked or underbanked.

“About 75 percent of the population in this part of Kano are financially excluded; they have not been covered and find it difficult to do cash transactions,” he said.

MTN has 61 million subscribers in Nigeria; four million of them are in Kano. However, Abubakar said the company is going to leverage on the voluminous number of subscribers to close the existing gap in financial services in the state.

“If you look at other competition we have in Nigeria, you will see that they have restrictions. They have a lot of plans in Nigeria but they don’t have coverage.

“So, what we leverage on is our customer base such that everywhere you go you will find an agent close to you and effect your transaction. What we are planning is to cover beyond the INEC’s polling unit per community in order to have a wide reach-out for transaction,” Abubakar added.

The launch witnessed a massive turn up of traders who were introduced to the platform; many were registered as MoMo agents, and there was a raffle draw that enabled attendees to win gifts of household items.

MoMo was launched in August 29, 2019, as part of MTN’s support to Central Bank of Nigeria’ drive for financial inclusion. Since then, it captured Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. MTN said that the next city MoMo will be launched in is Owerri.

Abukakar explained that the target of YDFS is to have 50,000 people before the end of the year. He noted that Kano already has 3,000 agents.

“The idea behind the regional launch and sensitization event is part of the YDFS’s mission to put financial services within easy reach of every bankable Nigerian. With MoMo Agent service complementing existing banking services via extending access to simple money transfer services and other financial services nationwide, the subsidiary plans on rolling out about 500, 000 Agents across Nigeria, as well as the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.