List of South African Slang Words - Slang Originating From Other Countries

Slang Originating From Other Countries

The following slang words used in South African originated in other parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and subsequently came to South Africa.

• buck – the main unit of currency: in South Africa the rand
• china – friend, mate (from Cockney rhyming slang china = "mate"), alternatively, as above coming from the Bantu word umshana
• chow – to eat
• coaster – a state of affairs that surpasses cool
• Kaffir – a black person. 1790, from Arabic "kāfir" كَافِر, literally "one who does not admit the blessings of God", from kafara كَفَرَ "to cover up, conceal, deny". In a purely religious sense would refer to an atheist not believing in any creator or creative-force, but in Ottoman times it came to refer almost exclusively to "Christians". Used as a term of disdain referring to Dutch Colonists in Indonesia/Malaysia. Carried to the Cape of Good Hope by Dutch colonists who consequently used it to refer contemptously to the native population. Early English missionaries adopted it as an equivalent of "heathen" to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1792), from which use it came generally to mean "South African black" regardless of ethnicity, and became a term of abuse at least as early as 1934. (Usage now actionable on account of historical ties to Apartheid and incitement to racial hatred.)
• pom, pommie – a Brit (used also in Australian and New Zealand English)
• shab short for shebeen. In common usage.
• shebeen – illegal drinking-establishment (from Irish sibín), synonymous with speakeasy. In South Africa it refers in particular to unlicensed bars in the townships, and has become a mainstream word. During the apartheid era laws prohibited non-whites from consuming any alcohol except traditional sorghum beer, and taverns selling 'hard-tack' became the centre of social activity.
• tom – money or cash, as in "I must earn some tom". From Cockney rhyming slang where "tom" comes from "tomfoolery" ("jewellery")
• whenwe – a nostalgic white migrant from other parts of Africa, especially Zimbabwe: "when we were in Rhodesia..."