Slang


Sabona mngan'ami (Hello/ I see you my friend, from Sakubona)

Today I would like to introduce you to the distinct language of chilapalapa, as used in some parts of Zimbabwe. Chilapalapa is a mixture of isiNdebele, English (isiNgisi) and some chiShona. It is not officially a language. There are some interesting words in Chilapalapa, and here are a few:

"come-come"= rain or izulu e.g. ucabanga ukuthi come-come lamhla?- you think it will rain today?
"sure"= good/ okay e.g. Unjani umngane? (How're you friend?)- Ye, sure sure
"faka"= to put  e.g. Faka zonke- put it all (faka is actually isiNdebele too, and is pronounce 'farga')
"now-now"= in a little bit of time
"sure" or "sure-sure"=ok, I'm fine etc
"umdududu"=motorbike (think about the sound a motorbike makes- it is like du-du-du)
"imota"=motorcar
and even sometimes "iflying machina" for aeroplane

Sho tshomi, here is some isiNdebele slang used mainly by youths in Zimbabwe:

Sho/ sure= it is a very versatile word that can me "fine", "ok" (when said as sho sho), or even "hi"
Ola 7= hi
tshomi= buddy
azkhuphi or azkhiphi interchangeably = how's it going? to which the reply is "askuph"
(kanti) kwenzenjani?= (but) what's going on? (it is proper isiNdebele so is not really slang)
uthini?= what do you say? What's up? (not really slang, but used in that way)

I will write more Ndebs (slang) when I think of it. Thank you to those who sent in suggestions, siyabonga.


Sho sho


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4 comments:

  1. Inhle kabi into leyi oyenzayo. Qubekela phambili ngomsebenzi omuhle.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very helpful, im used to my dad speaking this. Its good to see how the words are spelt. Deffo add more when you think of it :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your work. Please post more lessons.

    ReplyDelete

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