men at work

Here is one more sign to add to the list of amazing South African road signs. This is "no nonsense" and shows you (again) how scary it can be on the freeway here.

To be honest, I don't know why they use these signs because people rarely read them. We have seen cars run over many an orange cone. Good luck to the road workers!

Love,
Mat & Jess

sh*t south africans say - second edition

Back by popular demand...sh*t South Africans Say:

• trolley - shopping cart. Here is a photo of a trolley.

• lift - elevator
• good'n youuuuu? - good and you?
• shame - basically means that sucks ("the Springboks lost? Shame.")
• tomato sauce (pronounced tom-ahh-toe) - ketchup. Note: Heinz is not the name brand here. It is called All Good and it is NOT All Good.
• Yurr (rhymes with fur) - year
• eish! - means any of the following words - sh*t! ouch! bummer! oh well! no freaking way!
• ballbox - men's athletic cup
• side - sports team ("the South African side crushed the India side today in the rugby game")
• tinkle - telephone call
• stunning - good food is often described as stunning
• koeksister - a deep-fried sweet covered in syrup. This is Mat's favorite treat that does not include bacon as an ingredient
• veld - open countryside; grassy field
• must I? - should I?
• fetch - get
• flipping - basically the f-word
• epic - memorable; huge deal
• I promise you - it's true
• pleasure! - you're welcome

Plan your trip so you can try these words!

Love,

Jess & Mat

sh*t south africans say - first edition

*Correction from my last post - the scariest spider on the planet is called a rain spider (not a red spider). Google at your own risk.*

There are 11 nationally recognized languages in South Africa. 11! Crazy, huh? I won't list them but I will tell you that from my POV, the three most common languages are Afrikaans, Zulu and English.

We are fortunate because most people speak English so it is easy to communicate unless the person has a thick accent. Personally, I love the South African-English accent. I think it sounds like a British/Australian hybrid. If I had that accent, I would never stop talking! Haha

They speak English, but that does not necessarily mean we understand everything they say. There are many slang phrases unique to South Africa (jokingly called "South Africanisms") that I thought you guys might enjoy.

Without further ado, I give you the first edition of Sh*t South Africans Say. I encourage you to try to pronounce each of these words. Come on...it's fun!!!

• ag man! (pronounced ock-man, similar to "ach" in German) - oh man!
• bakkie (pronounced bucky) - a pick-up truck
• biltong - a dried meat that is similar to jerky
• biscuit - cookie
• bliksem (pronounced bluxom) - incredible!
• boerewors (pronounced boor-uh-voors)- spicy sausage
• boot - trunk of car
• braai (pronounced bry)- bbq
• my bru (pronounced brew) - my brother
• chips - french fries
• chipis (pronounced chip-peez) - chips or small crackers
• cozzy - bathing suit
• dankie (pronounced donkey) - thank you
• dodgy - something that is suspect or shady
• doff - stupid or slow
• dop - an alcoholic drink
• geyser (pronounced geezer) - hot water heater
• gogga (pronounced go-guh) - an insect
• hey - used at the end of a sentence to emphasize importance ("don't be late, hey?")
• howzit - how are you?
• hundreds - doing excellent or doing good
• izzit? (pronounced is-it) - really?
• ja (pronounced yay-ce) - yes
• just now - sometime soon or perhaps never ("i'll help you just now")
• kak - crap or nonsense
• larney - fancy
• lekker (pronounced leck-errrrr) - great! or tasty
• miele (pronounced mee-lee) - corn
• mozzie - mosquito
• nappy - a baby's diaper
• now now - very soon ("i'll pick you up now now")
• robot - traffic light
• rubbish - trash
• sammie - sandwich
• tekkies - athletic sneakers
• trek - journey
• voetsek (pronounced foot-sack) - go away; buzz off

Yes, we actually use each of the words on this list! It has been fun learning this Afrikaans-English slang. If you are interested in swear words, just ask Mat. :-)

I am leaving shortly to drive to Bethel to watch Sarah's son play rugby. It will be my first time watching  a whole rugby game. Yay! 

Love,

Jess & Mat