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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