A Tourist’s Guide to South African slang Helping Decode the Vernacular

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

email

WORDS: Emily Lightwood

Communication is a fundamental feature of human identity.

All over the world and in every language, slang is used, and South Africa is no exception. It has 11 national languages, with English and Afrikaans being the most common in Cape Town. Dialects branch off from the languages spoken in that country. In a city as diverse as Cape Town, you won’t have to travel far to hear some unusual words and phrases.

Is having so much linguistic variation a good thing?

Arguably, no. Slang can lead to native speakers of different generations not understanding each other, let alone tourists misunderstanding the locals. In the majority of situations, heavy social media usage is proportional to the rate at which new slang words are entering a language. Interestingly however, this hasn’t been such a big influencer of South African slang. This is because out of the words I’ve been taught, the majority are derived from the many languages which now form the modern South African English, rather than brand new words entering the language. Perhaps for most of the slang users here, social media just isn’t as much of a priority.

Commonly used vocabulary in English is changing, causing more confusion between generations. Certainly within my friendship group in the UK for example, we use ‘b’ online as an affectionate address term, but this has also shifted to real-life talk for us as well. But you wouldn’t hear this amongst a group of middle-aged speakers. This is all good and well, but problems begin to arise when these words sneak their way into the professional world. You can’t be taken seriously when you address your boss as ‘pal’.

After asking some locals, I’ve gathered this guide of local vernacular:

Food

Dite-Food

Spit– Lamb or sheep that’s skewered. In English we have the same thing but for a pig- hog roast

Biltong is a healthy dry, cured meat- low in fat and high in protein.

Braai– Barbeque.

Droëwors– Dry sausage

Mielie– Corn on the cob

Naartjie– Mandarin ( citrus orange)

Sosatie– Kebab

Biltong– Similar to jerkey- dried steak, but with so much more variety.

Slaptjips– Soggy/limp chips. South Africans love these… Britain not so much.

Objects and states

Babbelaas– hungover. In the UK, ‘hanging’ is sometimes used as a more informal word. In my opinion, the pleasantness of the South African slang masks the true ugliness of a bad hangover.

Robots– traffic lights, not artificial intelligence.

Blom/Lum– chill

Bos– wild

Takkies– sneakers/trainers. In the UK, ‘fresh creps’ is slang for new trainers.

Bakkie– truck/plastic bowl

Phrases

Ag– Ugh/frustration

Pleasure– Almost every Uber driver will say this to you after you thank them. This seems more polite than the UK equivalent of ‘you’re welcome’.

Heresit– Here it is

Howsit– What’s up?

Now now– Used to mean anything from ‘I’ll be there in five’ to ‘in a couple of hours’ time’. Capetonians are known for not being punctual!

Shame– Can either mean doing well for himself or in the literal sense of the word- ‘he’s such a nice guy shame’

Ja, no– Said whilst explaining something- ‘ja, no, South Africa drives on the left not the right’

Ya– Yes

Oh my word– An expression of shock. The English equivalent is ‘oh my gosh’. Popular even amongst the younger generations, whereas the British counterpart is generally used by older, more distinguished people.

Permie– Always

Né– Really?

Neh– I agree/looking for confirmation- ‘you like my hair neh?’

Kwaai– Cool

Address terms

Mommy– Even the toughest person will call their mother this, whereas British people will eventually grow up and convert to ‘mum’ (or mom when referring to across the pond in the US)

Aweh – term of endearment capturing family

A South African taxi with a Gaadjie (credits: Chris Bloom, Flickr)

Chommie– friend. Quite similar to ‘chum’ or ‘chummy’ in English. Interestingly in English, ‘chum’ is viewed as quite posh, which is the opposite to the South African slang equivalent.

Bra– brother

Gaadjie– the person who shouts the destination of the taxi. This is one of the first major things I noticed about Cape Town- people seem to shout at you in the street… took me a little while to realise they were shouting place names.

A multigenerational concept

For me, slang does provide an important sense of community, and I think it is the same for the people of South Africa. Certain nostalgic words represent a generation; ‘booyah’ is a staple word of the 90s, expressing joy. ‘Duh’ dates all the way back to the 70s, and communicates ignorance. For generations, populations of speakers have formed their own slang words; used to make conversation more convenient and fast-paced. Evidently, there are many reasons slang comes about, but as long as it provides a sense of belonging, it shouldn’t matter.

It’s okay to infuse a bit of character in the spoken word. After all,

Slang is about expressing yourself originally…

…and nobody’s slang is quite like South Africa’s.

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

email