If you are a regular reader of Wordability, the chances are that you have never heard of Alfred Agbesi Woyome. But if you are reading this in Ghana, you will know all about him.

Woyome is currently on trial in Ghana, accused of defrauding the country’s Government out of more than 50 million Ghanian Cedi (GHC). It’s a high profile case and is duly getting lots of coverage.

So why should Wordability be interested? Well, the case has prompted an outburst of new words, especially across social media. Using Woyome as a basis to mean a systematic attempt to defraud a country, a whole raft of words are now cropping up across the internet. These include:

Woyomics: The art of using fake documents to acquire a gargantuan money

Woyometicable: A system that can easily be Woyomised

Woyometrics: The science of calculating a huge sum of money obtained woyomecally.

Woyomee: Someone who has been Woyomised or a person who has suffered as a result of Woyome issue

Woyomer: A person using Woyomic strategy to acquire a gargantuan money from the state or Someone who Woyomises people.

Will these catch on outside Ghana? Possibly not, but with the interconnected world we now live in, it is a reminder that changes to the English language can come from any country, at any time.

And if you do start to hear the term in regular conversation, remember where you read about it first.