by Omidire Idowu

How we use certain English words sickens me gravely. This is the reason I would love to start by making us understand some meanings of CHARGE AND RECHARGE. The verb “Charge” is an amount (of money) for an activity, service or a product. Examples:

I will charge 200 naira for helping you with your luggage.

How much will you charge for my bag?

MTN charges me for making calls on their network.

 

‘Charge’ is also a noun meaning an amount you pay for a service, a product or an activity. Examples:

“I don’t like GLO prepaid charges.”

“Airtel’s data charges are not pocket-friendly.”

“There is no way you can have this phone fixed free of charge.”

 

CHARGE as a noun also means the amount of electricity which you store on your electrical devices such as your laptops, phones, torches etc. Examples:

“My phone’s battery is on charge.”

“She needs to charge the battery of her torch; the light is dim.”

CHARGE as a verb is an act of restoring power in a device’s battery. In this sense, what you charge is not your device but the battery of your device, though you may not have to mention the battery in your expression because it is believed that people generally understand what you mean when you say you charge your electrical devices e.g. “I want to charge my phone.” This kind of statement is used in an informal setting. But if you are in a formal environment, try as much as possible to be specific on what you are really charging e.g. “I want to charge my phone’s battery.”

When you want to credit your phone with air time, you buy top-up card and type the digits which you have on the card unto your phone. Top-up card is the card you buy which provides you with more airtime on your phone when you load the digits. You begin the digits with * followed by certain numbers (network specific) and end with #. The word for this in Nigerian expression is “recharge card.”

Credit card is the plastic card that allows you to purchase good on credit. It is wrong to use this expression when you want to top up your phone with airtime. Credit card is often issued by an organization or a bank so it is not sensible for you to say “I want to buy a credit card.” You can, however, credit your phone with a certain airtime amount. For you to do this, you must get a top-up card or buy airtime using your phone or the ATM.

RECHARGE simply means “charge anew.” You can thus recharge the battery of your phone. You can recharge your gun or lamp. But you cannot recharge your credit. There is no such word as recharge card in Standard English. The closest to it is CHARGE CARD which is the small plastic card you use to buy goods that you cannot pay for at the moment of purchase.

Some people even use the expression “recharge my phone” with the intention of loading their phone with more airtime. This is wrong because it is ambiguous. Do you mean your battery is flat and you want to recharge it or you don’t have call credit and you want to get some airtime? Then just go and credit your phone with more airtime so that you can make that important call.

---

Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Omidire, Idowu Joshua studied English at the University of Lagos. He has edited several publications. His essays have been published in several online magazines.