Coming from the Zulu word isibhabhalazi, babbelas refers to a hangover, and a rather wicked one at that. So when your roommate stumbles in for breakfast bleary eyed and with a faint green glow, you might greet him/her like this: “Hey bru, fun party last night! A bit babbelas this morning?”
Piggybacking off “Babbelas,” you might be scrounging around with your South African hangover looking for some “muti,” or traditional medicine. Derived from the isiZulu word for tree, it has been adopted all over the country to describe a medicine that has stunning effects.
One of the most important words to know — you’ll undoubtedly be invited to one within days of arriving in South Africa — a braai is a barbecue. It can also be used as a verb, as in, “to braai up some meat.” It comes from the Afrikaans word braaivleis, meaning grilled meat.
If you’re offered some dagga, know what it’s about before you accept. The person is offering you a cannabis-or-marijuana substitute. The word comes from the Khoi San language. Daxa-b is Khoi for the leonotis plant, from which a marijuana-like effect is derived. The plant is very common in South Africa.
A shebeen is a bar usually found in a township, and it may or may not be licensed. Coming from the Irish word sibin, shebeens came about during apartheid, when laws prohibited non-whites from consuming any alcohol besides the traditional sorghum beer. Any bars that bucked this law and continued to serve hard liquor and other drinks became extremely popular, and many of them have continued to operate well past the end of apartheid.
Lekker is one of the most common expressions in South Africa, coming from the Afrikaans word for nice, good, great, better, or really any expression of approval. Lekker is the predominant version of the word, although you may hear some people use “lukka” instead, more often in the province of Kwazulu-Natal.
Plucked from the Afrikaans word meaning “to wander,” dwaal is used when your mind is off on a walkabout — sometimes leading to your body wandering off, too. Use it when you’ve been snapped to attention by your friend. “Where you been?” “Ah, sorry. Was in a dwaal.”
Although it is a contraction of the phrase “how is it,” “Howzit!” is almost always used as an informal greeting between friends, as opposed to asking “how are you doing?” OK, let’s try to chain a cohesive exchange here with what we’ve learned thus far: “Hey, man! Howzit?!” “Man, I’m babbelas from that braai last night. I need some muti!” “Oh, yeah? How about some of this dagga?”
OK, you’re lucky we didn’t pull up a picture of one of these. Any kind of horrific creepy-crawly, squirmy, sickening, multi-legged insect is called a “gogga.” Be warned: A gogga can also fly! The etymology of this word is Afrikaans, from the word “khoikhoi,” which basically conjures up the same creatures. The “Gs” in this word are a hard “ch” sound, like the Scottish “loch.” Famous South African crickiter Paul Adams is nicknamed “Gogga.”
Quite simply: Football, in township slang. However, it seems that there’s been a macarena-like proliferation of a little jig called the Diski Dance in South Africa. Created for the 2011 FIFA World Cup championship in order to rouse football fans, the dance incorporates multiple soccer moves in four different South African languages (Twsana, Zulu, Sotho, English). Here is a video of the dance. Get up outta the chair!
Don’t be one of these! Apparently coming from the Sotho language, it basically denotes a fool, or an idiot. The South African online journal Times Live hosts a “Mampara of the Year” award. Do you know who the 2013 winner was?
From the isiZulu word for “teacher” umfundisi or fundi is a term commonly used to point out an expert, someone well versed on a certain subject. A pro, if you will. The Zulus would call a judge or a priest “umfundisi,” or fundi as a colloquialism: “You’re quite a fundi on jazz music, aren’t you?!”
The Afrikaans word for brother is broer or boetie, and boet has become a term of affection for a friend or acquaintance. Other variations include bru or bra, from the Afrikaans broer.
Cockney rhyming slang found its way into the South African vocabulary, and so china has become another slang word used to refer to a friend. In Cockney rhyming slang, “china plate” would mean “my mate.” Others believe, however, that china actually comes from the Bantu word umshana — my nephew — but we may never know for sure!
If someone’s trying to give you a heads up or a warning, they may shout out “Chips! Chips!” They’re not trying to sell you French fries. Though it’s often used to warn somebody of something, it is also used to shout indignantly about something – for example, “Chips! Chips! Ref, that was a blown call!”
Jol, from Afrikaans, can mean a multitude of things, but always having to do with a good time. It can mean party, having fun, dating (or sometimes cheating) but one thing is certain: South Africans love to jol.
Ouch! Eina is an expression of pain, or empathy with another’s pain, coming from the Khoikhoi exclamation of pain or surprise. It can also mean sore or painful, such as, “I saw that fall! Is your bum eina?!” Eina is used frequently in both South African English and Afrikaans.
Finishing off on an all-inclusive, harmonious note, the term “ubuntu” is a South African philosophy emphasizing brotherhood, sisterhood and human connectivity. It comes from the Nguni Bantu word for humanness, and it was conceptualized especially during the apartheid years to denote a kind of socialism among South Africans of African descent. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has described ubuntu as the essence of being human. Therefore, this word transcends street slang. It is a way of life, an outlook and a universality.
