Sincerely, Jacob

South African Slang

Despite the fact that I’d known a few South Africans while I was in Miami, I never heard them use the native slang and sounds that come with speaking to them in their country.

The wonders of travel are often far simpler than one might imagine. It doesn’t take a stunning pharaonic temple in Egypt to captivate you. Simple things, such as the way that native English speakers of other countries have adapted the Queen’s tongue, can make for abundant entertainment.

I experienced this for the first time in 2018 when I studied abroad in London for half the year. The British, having borne the language, are exceptionally funny with it. All the confirmation you need of this can be found in glancing over a map of England, reading the names of the towns.

In South Africa, I’ve found their English to be formal in most respects. There isn’t a massive slang vocabulary, probably in part due to the fact that those people may well just speak Afrikaans or Xhosa to convey their point. I have heard that the coloured people (their word for describing them, not mine) have a form of pidgin English, but I have not yet heard it.

Regardless, phrases of note include:

Shame - conveys actual shame of a sort or in some cases a positive event

Hectic - possibly the most used, to communicate something that may be dangerous, crazy, or extreme

Choh & Chan - difficult to spell, but common amongst all people as a way to say hello, signal agreement, or add emphasis

From hearing the Xhosa language, dominant in the Eastern and Western Cape, I suspect the Choh and Chah have their origin there.

All in all, comedy for an American to hear.

Subsided Weariness

On my seventeenth day into the trip, I’ve noticed that my initial weariness has largely subsided.

Despite some travel experience, there is a level of disorientation and uneasiness in traveling to a new place - particularly with the reputation South Africa has. However accurate it may be, the country is ranked fifth in the world for crime.

Though it would be unfair to say that the weariness is exclusively concerned with physical safety. While that is a part of it, there are others.

How do I book transport from Point A to B?

Is the option I choose reliable?

How do I get to the bus station?

Is the place I’m headed worth going?

What is that guy looking at me for?

This is the nature of the style of travel I am engaged in. There is money so that I am not forced to hitchhike everywhere and sleep outside, but not enough so that I can hire private cars everywhere. And that is one of the major benefits - resourcefulness. I have not found that resourcefulness is something you can simulate - it must be forged under flame.

As time rolls on, my comfort grows. That will not stay static - there are countless challenges and riddles to solve on the road that is backpacking across all of Africa.

To each of those, I relish the opportunity to prevail.