Akeem Lasisi
When you just buy that dream phone, what are you putting on it to protect its screen from damage? Don’t forget that things have become scarily expensive. Just be a little careless and get the glittering cover broken, and you will see yourself ‘láì gbé díńgí’, as a Yoruba idiom says, meaning seeing yourself without looking at a mirror. The matter is scarier if the brand is in the Samsung realm. Anyway, what is the protector called? Screen guide? Screen guard? Skin guard or skin guide?
The answer ought to be simple, I suppose. However, I sometimes hear different expressions when people refer to the object. All we want to confirm today is whether the adjective should be ‘screen’ or ‘skin’ and if the noun it qualifies should be ‘guide’ or ‘guard’. In the first instance, a part of the puzzle appears to have been resolved in the opening paragraph where I used ‘screen’ two times. So, what we intend to protect is the screen, which collocates with phone, computer and some other electronic devices. Often, we use ‘skin’ with objects that harbour lives, including humans and animals.
On the other hand, those who were part of our June 17, 2025 class should not have any problem choosing between ‘guard’ and ‘guide’ in the context. We had, in the lesson, established that you ‘guard against’ unwanted incidents, you don’t ‘guide against’ them. Therefore, because we are talking about forestalling damage should the handset fall, we want to guard against the scenario. This thus means what we need is a device to help achieve this: the screen guard. So, it is neither a screen guide nor a skin guard or guide:
I bought another screen guide for my phone yesterday. (Wrong)
I bought another skin guide for my phone yesterday. (Wrong)
I bought another skin guard for my phone yesterday. (Wrong)
I bought another screen guard for my phone yesterday. (Correct)
Meanwhile, here are other phone-related errors you should avoid:
I saw your missed calls. (Wrong)
I missed your calls. (Correct)
I was on call when you entered. (Wrong)
I was on the phone when you entered. (Correct)
James, are you hearing me? (Wrong)
James, can you hear me? (Correct)
Punch
