finnished, my good friend...
i must appologise for being so foolish and not having even comsidered your excellent theory on the matter.
however, i am not too sure that you are correct, and this is because i once visited a school in the congo and that is not what or how they were teaching the kids.
infact....i had a long chat with the headmaster at the kananga high school at he explained his curriculam strategy to me...
it goes like this, from the age of 3, when the kids start appearing at school they put them on an intensive course...this involves the having to recite....GIVE ME, GIVE ME....now when i say intensive i mean for like 8 hours a day....
chippe, the headmaster told me that the kids continue on this sharp learning curve for a bout 7 years before the move on to ending the sentence...
this is where the course becomes quite tricky because for each week they add a new word to the end of that particular phrase that they have been learning for the last 7 years...
for example, FOOD- 1 week, BEER- 1 week, CIGARETTES- 1 week, MONEY- 4 weeks, CLOTHES- 1 week....and so it goes on, do you understand what i am saying....
so, from this i should guess you can imagine that by the age of 14, 15, 16, these little people are well versed in the english language.
have you noticed these or any other siliar phrases while you have travelled this continent for the past 23 years like you say...?