South African-isms

Oh the joys of living in another country, I am find all these little saying or quirks that are so fascinating. This page will be dedicated to all the sayings or actions that I find interesting, funny, or unique to South Africa!

“Aw Shame”: This is said basically about anything…from stubbing your toe, to a bad joke, to a cute dog, to someone who is sick, or to a death. I hear it all through out day.

“Common”: Basically means it is lower class, or red neck/ghetto for us American folk.

“Genuine”: Equivalent to me saying “for real” or “seriously?”

Someone having “talent”: Means they are attractive…not to be confused with them actually having talent… Someone recently asked me if I had met any boys with talent. I then went into a detailed story of these guys in the street who were doing these awesome tricks and dance moves. Only after the story did I find out the person was actually asking me if I met any boys who were attractive…oops.

“Drinking pills”: Taking medicine

Drinking tea and coffee is a way of life here!

There are car guards here..you basically pay someone a couple of rand to point out a parking spot for you, watch your car while you are in a store, and guide you as you back out of the parking space.

Mexican food is totally foreign and rare…sad day for me!

Traffic Lights are called “robots”

They have the creepiest bugs in the world here…called Parktown Prawns. They are basically HUGE roach/crickets that spray black tar, jump at you, and are super hard to kill.

Tip is only 10% here.

Ham is huge here and turkey meat is really rare. Which is sad because I so love turkey sandwiches and I am not such a big fan of ham.

Basically all the homes here have high walls surrounding them or are gated.

Butter is an automatic on any burger, sandwich, or hot dog. Then you can add the “tomato sauce” or mustard.