Fuzzy this one is for you.
I am a Capetonian, I haven’t travelled much, but what I do know is that Cape Town is well loved by most.
People who understand true Capetonian culture, appreciate it.
I am also a very literal person, and I must admit Im not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Being a true Capetonian at heart, one would expect me to be familiar with some of the most universally understood terms that come with it, such as “Howzit”
We are all familiar with the term used by Matt Damon in “Invictus” and Leonardo Di Caprio in “Blood Diamond.”
For some reason I only just got it just recently. (shrug)
For example, when a colleague greets me in the corridors with a “Howzit” , Im still answering “Fine thanks and you?”
The person is actually walking away already while I stand there like a puppy with no direction.
I quickly dust off all traces of mortification and scuffle on back to my desk.
Sod’s law will however inevitably mess with my head shortly after an incident like this.
Strike 2, walking to the deli during lunch, I see an old high school peer and am enthusiastically greeted with a “Howzit” to which I answer “Hello”...waiting to be intentionally asked how I am so I can then reply.
The confusion on the persons face is enough to make you want to get knock over by a car when you realize your screw up in that 2 minutes of uncomfortable silence .
Desperately and unsuccessfully trying to recover from embarrassment, the devil stands there breaking out in hysterics.
Say it with me AWWWWWKWAARRRRDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!
Note to self, “Howzit” doesn’t actually mean “How is it?”
Moral of the story, it’s all relative.
On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is mildly random and 10 is completely and utterly random, I would say this post is a 8.
Thoughts?
On an equally random note..
ReplyDeleteThe other day, as I jovially cantered down a squirrel infested road of cape town gardens, I overheard a young lady utter the phrase "sukke nommes". Needless to say my nature inspired walk was from then on infested with thoughts of this eloquent phrase turning in my head and on my tongue. I hadn't even started thinking about the meaning of these words before I exited on wale street half an hour later.
What I concluded was that Capetonians are lazy, so lazy that even pronouncing the "R" in nommers or the "L" in sulke proved too much effort. I further deduced that it is in fact specifically the laziness of the cape coloured tongue that gave rise this the colourful kombuis afrikaans we kaapies know so well.
Listening to a few more eloquent "coloreds" on the walk to my car I realised that any words requiring the tongue to be lifted (against gravity) and placed on the upper palate, were deftly turned into "waasie smokkie?" instead of "waar is die smokhuis?" or "sy kommie saamie" instead of "sy kom nie saam nie"
kwaai ne?