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African Slang...foot ball time...Newspaper cutting (Deccan Herald) (II)


Language tips II
South African slang guide
JOHANNESBURG, June 10, Reuters:

In the second part of this visitor-friendly guide on the A-Z of slang (the first part appeared on Thursday), we run through the I-Z possibilities.

I: Izzit. Another product of the same linguistic mangle as "Howzit", the abbreviation of "Is it?" signifies vague disbelief or surprise as in: "My girlfriend is something of a soccer fundi." Reply: "Izzit?"

J: Jol. Afrikaans for "party", a surprisingly widespread term given the former Dutch settlers' puritan reputation.

K: "Ke Nako". Sesotho for "It's time", and the expression that helped convince FIFA bosses in 2004 to award Africa its first World Cup.

L: Lekker. Pronounced "lacquer" but has nothing to do with furniture polish and everything to do with "good". Likely to be heard in conjunction with another L, "Laduma" –– Zulu for "He scores" –– if the prayers of 50 million South Africans are answered.
M: Moegoe. Idiot. Nothing more to say.

N: Now. A hard one to grasp for English-speakers used to their "nows" in the present or recent past. "Now" is not "now" but some vague point in the near future. "Just now" is slightly sooner, and "Now now" sooner still, but not soon enough to be "Right now" –– an immediacy that appears to have fallen victim to the vagiaries of "Africa time".

O: Oke. Man. A shortening of "bloke" that can be shortened further to a simple "O". The latter is a rare example of a South African word unlikely to be shortened any further.
P: Pap. Maize meal. Does for South Africa what the potato does for Ireland.

Q: Quagga. A type of zebra identified by its stripey front end and monochrome, horse-like behind. It's extinct so you're unlikely to see one unless you've been smoking, in which case it's probably a dagga (Marijuana) quagga.

R: Robot. South Africans have robots, not traffic lights, but don't expect to see Star Wars droids overseeing major intersections. They're just traffic lights.

S: Soutpiel. Derogatory but typically colourful Afrikaans term for Englishman. It literally means "salt penis" and comes from the view that early English colonists had one foot in Africa and one back home –– hence the proximity of their genitals to sea water.

T: Tsotsi. Gangster. Not someone you want to run into but unfortunately an all-too-present feature of one of the world's most crime-ridden countries.

U: Ubuntu. Community spirit. Often invoked as the answer to the myriad social problems left by decades of white-minority rule. Even though apartheid ended 16 years ago, the gap between haves and have-nots in South Africa is among the world's widest.

V: Voetsek. Slightly stronger than "Get lost" but not an out-and-out obscenity. Still, best not to use it if you meet a tsotsi.

W: Wors. Another shortening, this time for boerewors, the curly, mildly spiced sausage that forms the centrepiece of any braai.

X: Xhosa-nostra. A shadowy, secret organisation inside the ruling African National Congress (ANC) bent on securing national domination for the Xhosa, Nelson Mandela's tribe. Its existence is attested mainly in political gags.

Y: Yebo - Don't say Yes, say Yebo.

Z: Zamalek. Strong beer popular in townships.
(Concluded)
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