The boys are talking a mile a minute these days and a question I’m often asked is “do they speak with an accent?”
I’ve always considered the boys accentless – they just have cute baby accents where there are certain sounds they can’t pronounce ie “green” is “deen” and “orange” is “oh-dinge”. To me, there is no discernible trace of Aussie or Saffa-ness in how they speak. Given I am asked about their accents so often, I’m starting to pay more attention to how they speak and I’ve noticed the following occasions when they do sound either very Australian or very South African….
a) when Master J says “no” he sounds like a baby Crocodile Dundee
b) when Master H says yes, he actually doesn’t use the word “yes”. He says “ja” instead. If I ask him to say “yes please” he will say “yes please” but if I ask him a question and his response is in the affirmative, it’s always expressed as “ja”. I guess this means my almost two year old speaks Afrikaans 😉
Also, Master H has picked up the local expression “now now”. For those not from South Africa, the phrase “now now” is very ambiguous. Even after living here for over a year, I’m still not exactly sure what it means. From what I’ve gathered, it means something similar to “soon” or “right now”. The only twist in our household is that Master H has added an extra repeat of the word so he actually says “now now now” for example he says “mama’s bringing snacks now now now.”
NOW, JUST NOW OR NOW NOW?
Related to “now now” are “now” and “just now”.These phrases are quite confusing as they are indications of time or (lack of) urgency but they are very different from the generally accepted meaning of the very simple word “now”.
“Now” means “immediately” or “at this very moment” right?? Wrong.
“Now” in South Africa has almost the reverse meaning of the usual definition of the word as we know it. Here, it means something more along the lines of “maybe” or “eventually”. If someone tells you they will do something “now”, they could mean in a couple of hours or later this week OR they could just mean a vague point in time in the future.
“Just now” – again, I’m still not 100% sure but I think it means “later” or “in awhile”. “Just now” will happen sooner and with a higher level of urgency than “now” but still does not come close to meaning ‘immediately’.
“Now now” (or what Master H refers to as “now now now”). This is the most immediate of the three. “Now now” means “shortly”, “soon” or “as soon as I can” but is still likely to fall short of your typical expectation of the word ‘now’.
SOUTH AFRICAN-ISMS 101
Below are some other new words and phrases I’ve learnt since moving here:
Arvie – afternoon. The South African version of our “arvo”
Bakkie – Ute (usually with 4 – 8 guys jammed in the back amongst the actual stuff they’re transporting)
Braai – BBQ (a national institution much like it is in Oz. Oh except they have “Braai Day” aka Braai4Heritage on 24 September which is SA’s Heritage Day public holiday).
“Cute man” – We’d just say “that’s so cute” or “cute” but Saffas use the word “man” a lot so the saying is always “cute man”
Dof – stupid
Divine – (always said like this “diviiiiiine”). I always see the South African version of Melbourne’s Toorak ladies or Dubai’s Jumeirah Janes in shops exclaiming “oh this is so diviiiiine” while stroking the sleeve of a jumper or something.
Eish! – this small word has so many meanings. Nomsa our nanny says it all the time. It can be used in both the positive and negative context. It can mean anything from “you’re joking!” to “bummer!” to “wow!” to “what!” to “gosh!” “geez!” to “oh well”
Flipping – used when Aussies would use the word “bloody” as in “what the flipping heck?” aka “what the bloody hell?”
Geyser – Hot water unit. When we first moved here and were house hunting, it used to really confuse me when the real estate agents said “this house comes with 3 geysers in the roof.”
Go well – Usually said as a farewell (typically at the end of a phone conversation). I guess the Australian equivalent would be “take care”
Have a good day further – Said when ending a conversation with someone over the phone or perhaps you met for breakfast, have finished and are both off to do other things. We’d just say “have a nice day” or “see you later”
Howzit – is a universal greeting that encompasses “hello”, “good morning/afternoon” and “how are you”. It’s not really said as a question, just a greeting. That said, the usual response you will get is “goodnyouuuuu”
Aussies would say “how’s it going” or “how are you”
If I say “How’s it going?” when I meet new people, they typically look a bit puzzled. They take the expression literally and think “What do you mean going? Going where?” The guys in the office and Nomsa our nanny are used to being greeted this way by me but it did throw them the first few times they heard it
Hundred percent – definitely / for sure / absolutely
Is it? – This is said a LOT over here. You can be chatting away to someone and if that person is South African, you will hear them say “is it” a lot. I guess they use “is it” the way we would say “really?” or “is that so” in response to something someone is telling us. I think it’s a way to show they are paying attention to what you are saying
Jol – means ‘good time’ or ‘fun’ ie “we had such a jol” and it also means ‘party’ ie “sounds like the neighbours are having a real jol”
Kak – sh1t, rubbish, crap (opposite of lekker)
Lekker – Awesome / fun / cool / good
Oke – (pronounced ‘oak’) meaning bloke / guy / person
Robot – traffic light
Shame – this word is used so often in so many contexts here. It’s one South African-ism that I find quite annoying, probably because sometimes I just don’t understand why they’d say it in the context of the conversation! It’s almost a filler word like the word “like”. It can denote someone expressing empathy ie ‘you poor thing’ or ‘I feel sorry for you’ (“The boys woke up at 4am again today.” “Shame man.”) to other uses which I still don’t really understand ie “Shame he looks so cute in that jumper”
Sharp – my boys love this word and they say “sharp sharp!” for extra effect. It’s hard to describe what “sharp” actually means. It can be a greeting but you can also use it as a farewell. It basically means things are good. It can be used to express enthusiasm or agreement with someone. Someone described it to me as a way of verbalising a thumbs up. I’ve noticed it used mostly by black men. The boys love the security guy who works at the front gate of our complex. Every morning when we leave to go to school and every afternoon when we come home from school they command me to “put window down” so they can say hi to Onias. He will come up to each window to say hi. Then he’ll give each boy a thumbs up and say “sharp”. The boys will then stick up a thumb, press it against his thumb and and say “sharp sharp!” whilst grinning like mad. Super cute and the local guys LOVE it.
Sjoe! – (to me it sounds like “sho!” or putting a ‘sh’ sound in front of the word ‘yo’.) It’s always said with real emphasis. Another filler type word that is used as a verbal exclamation mark ie. “Sjoe it’s raining like crazy today” or “He was so rude! Sjoe!”
Siff – gross or disgusting
Slops – as in slip slops aka flip flops aka thongs
Stunning – amazing / beautiful. Used to describe lots of things including scenery and food ie “oh the prawn salad here is just stunning”
Tackies – sneakers / runners
To die for – used in the same context (and by the same ladies) as the word “diviiiine” ie “that necklace is to die for”
Yebo – Zulu for yes but used by a lot of people to express agreement or approval
gday rsa 