Your guide to Durban slang

Posted on 11 December 2012

Ask a Durbanite to say ‘fish’ and you’ll notice it sounds a little odd. Not weird, just different. Subtly mocked by the rest of the country, Durban just beats to a different rhythm. To embrace the city’s ‘language’ requires an unusual approach: one of relaxation. So find a comfy spot in the sun, close your eyes and unwind. Before you realise it you’ll be speaking and acting like a local. Chilled vibes, bru …

Let me just choon what kind:

First thing, loosen up. Adopt a lazy mouth syndrome and liaise your words together.

The notion of time doesn’t exist:

‘Now now’ can actually be any time between now and next week.

‘For days’ is used to indicate a long period of time. It has nothing to do with days.

‘Pull into the vaab soonish, we’ll swing by just now’ actually translates to, ‘We have no idea when we are going to arrive at the event but you will also be late so no stress.’

Always throw in some exclamations to make your expressions sound more authentic. Anywhere in the sentence will do:

Ey! Aweh! Yebo! Eish! Sho! Yus! Kiff! Stoked! Shot! Hyayibo! Ja, well, no lekker! Hundreds! An’ all. Haw wena! Laduma!

Add a little something something to the end of your words:

Capetonians (a.ka. laanies) liken to shorten their words. In Durban, however, you need to klap on some ‘ies’ and the odd ‘ish’ for impact.

For example: ‘Yus what went down this arvie was slightly awkies hey, I mean naught bru, that dude was gnarly,’ translates to ‘something strange happened this afternoon with a weird guy’.

If it all sounds a little confusing, remember: Durban (or eThekwini) slang is a collision of the fast talking swag of the Indian population, the slower more relaxed speech of the beach community and the gooing in of some powerful Zulu words to dala you into being a true Durbanite. So embrace the uniqueness of a sunny culture envied by the rest of the country and get into the rhythm of Durban. You won’t regret it.

Some other expressions

To be in pain – Eina man!

Mate – Chommie, boet, bru, charna, ou

Girlfriend – Cherrie, stekkie, betty

Older person/parents – Ballie, toppie

Younger person – Grom, lightey

Gangster – Tsotsi

Idiot – Cake

If something is really cool – Sick, maadhir. As in, yus that cab is sick/maadhir!

If something isn’t so cool- Sif

To work hard – Graft

Shop – Spaza

 

Know any other strange/odd/cool Durban slang? Leave them in the comment box below.

 

Guest blog post by Megan Pilditch

Main image by Kleinz on Flickr

 






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