6 South African Sayings That I Just Can’t Seem to Shake!
Written by Jaillan Yehia
South African Slang
There seems to be some South African terminology that has taken on a life of its own, these phrases seem to have spread overseas to folks who’ve never even set foot in South Africa.
For me personally, ever since my holiday to South Africa, there are 6 words which stayed with me, and will always define my time in the country.
What Does This Post Cover?
These are My 6 Most Celebrated South African Sayings
1 Izzit?
Izzit was a total throwback to the 1980’s North London vocab of my youth.
Once I’d been reintroduced to this phrase there was no stopping me from saying it.
At home in England I continue to say it, often in a long drawn out and slightly incredulous manner, much to my friends’ annoyance.
How to use the South African saying, Izzit:
Me: I think this monkey has stolen my packet of Woolworth’s crisps!
You: Izzit?!
2 Shame
As above, this word was constantly uttered in my own teenage years, and for the cooler kids would be accompanied by some vigorous hand gestures.
How to use the South African saying, Shame:
Me: This shop is selling Keep Calm and Carry On merchandise.
You: Shaaaame!
3 Enjoy!
Never have I been implored to enjoy so much by so many.
In South Africa, every cup of tea, meal, game drive, wine tasting or other experience I tried was accompanied by the invitation to ‘enjoy’.
Luckily for all concerned, most of the time I did very much enjoy whatever it was I was experiencing, because South Africa is fantastic.
I concluded that the clever South Africans had come up with a catch all term used in much the same way as the French used Bon Appetite but even better, as this one can apply to anything and everything, not just consumables.
How to use the South African saying, Enjoy:
Me: I am going to have a glass of Merlot
You: Enjoy!
4 Howzit
At first when I was asked Howzit, I replied, in a terribly literal and English way, that yes, it was all going very well thanks very much indeed for asking. Then I realised it pretty much means Hello, and a full reply isn’t actually needed.
How to use the South African saying, Howzit:
Me: Howzit?
Giraffe: I’ll be fine if I can just reach down and get a drink of this water, thanks for asking!
5 Pleasure
This cake really was a pleasure…
This one is closely related to South African saying No. 3.
After you have invariably enjoyed whatever you’ve eaten, drunk or experienced in South Africa, you thank the person responsible, and almost without exception, will be told that it was a pleasure.
How to use the South African saying, Pleasure:
Me: Thanks for reading my post about South African sayings!
You: Pleasure!
At first I believed that in South Africa everything was indeed a pleasure, but after a while I realised that ‘it’s a pleasure’, often abbreviated to just the word ‘pleasure’ pronounced like ‘plairsure’ was a stock phrase used by staff, much like the way in Vancouver every waitress asks ‘how are the first few bites tasting’. While sometimes it was heartfelt, at other times it was actually a bit robotic.
Which brings us to South African saying number…
6 Robot
I’d been pre-warned that South Africans used the term robot to refer to traffic lights, but I never tired of hearing people say it in that wonderful South African accent.
It turns out that most people in the hospitality industry have been warned when Europeans are told to turn right at a robot we will have quite different expectations, so they just call them traffic lights to help us most of the time, which rather took the fun out of it.
How to use the South African saying, Turn right at the robot:
Me: How do I get to Falcon Creek?
You: Turn right at the robot
Turn right at the robot. Still makes me smile.
More South African Sayings I haven’t Included
Of course there are far more famous South African sayings than I have listed here.
‘I promise you’, ‘I’m telling you’ and ‘ya’ cropped up a lot.
And ‘just now’ is a real personal favourite, as it means anything but just now, and can actually mean, ‘whenever I get round to it’, a bit like the Arabic phrase ‘Bukra’, which is supposed to mean ‘tomorrow’, apart from the fact that tomorrow may never come!
Still, those listed above are the 6 words that I will forever associate with my time in South Africa.
Tags: linquistics, South Africa, travel tips
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Arcadia Jane
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Ja nee… try and explain ‘ja nee’ to non-South African as ‘yes no’ and try and explain what it means…
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Douglas Armstrong Lumley
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Those sayings never end, do they? I’m a South African who’se lived in Sweden, Denmark and UK for 36 years in total (half my life!) but nothing expresses my meaning as well as the SA sayings. I’ve been trying to research “Nyannis Koepella” (SP??) – which is equivalent to “As true as ….. (God, Bob, my names …. etc).
Any help out there?
Ag thanks, hey? 🙂
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Andre
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Oh man, this was so good to read. What about jislaaik! (Pron.: yislike) which means something like “Wow!” I once was on a plane when the captain announced that the crew members were from eight different countries, incl, South Africa. So I looked at them, wondering who the SA one was… until one of them looked at a mother holding her baby and said: “Shame”. It doesn’t mean there is something wrong with the baby. It’s a kind word, endearing. If she would have said “Jislike!” then it probably was an ugly baby.
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savoirthere
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Hi Andre, I’m not sure if I noticed jislaaik, but I will look out for it next time. Interesting what you say about shame, I hadn’t really thought about it like that but you’re right, it’s an endearing word isn’t it, whereas when we say it in the UK the meaning is more like ‘Oh my god, how thoroughly embarrassing!’
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Kerry
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As a South African having lived in the UK for 7 years, I can’t wait to go back and say ‘just now’ and for no one to ask me what that means!
I have never noticed that we use the word enjoy so much :), but next time I am home I will listen out for it!
Glad you enjoyed our country though 🙂
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savoirthere
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You can say ‘Just Now’ to me if that will help!? I also noticed that for the first minute after updating your Facebook status, it defines the time you wrote the comment as ‘Just Now’ and it always makes me chuckle and wonder if everyone in South Africa finds it a bit confusing!
I thoroughly enjoyed the country and have told everyone who will listen how wonderful it is – I cannot wait to go back!
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Elle Croft
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Hehe! These all take me back a while! I was born in SA and grew up in Australia with South African parents…I didn’t know these words were weird in Aus until I was laughed at in school…but they put a smile on my face thinking about them now!! Lovely post
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Anonymous
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There are no words to say how good that cake was. I’m telling you!
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Rachel
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Brilliant, spot on – reminds me of all my SA friends. And that cake looks gooood!
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