“B”….mmmm…. as it is always fun to learn about another country’s linguistic heritage, I thought I would share some slang words we use here in South Africa beginning with “B” – I can immediately think of at least eight off the top of my head and I would think there are more.

I am an English speaking South African, but we use many Afrikaans and also some African words as slang, in fact, our language is literally peppered with such words so much so that I always make a very definite effort when chatting to tourists or foreigners not to use slang as otherwise I think they would assume we are speaking some sort of dialect….

Bakkie (bucky) – this has two meanings.  It could be a small two seater truck with an open rear end or what the Americans would call a “pickup” or it could be a small plastic or Tupperware container used to keep leftover food.

Babelas (bubble-as) – meaning hangover

Boet means brother in Afrikaans and is usually used to call a friend, sort of like “buddy”

Braai is what we call a barbeque, means to grill

Boerewors is a type of sausage that we have on the barbeque – “boer” means farmer and “wors” means sausage so literally means farmer’s sausage

Bergie – term we use in Cape Town for homeless people. “Berg” means mountain so as Cape Town lies below Table Mountain, the homeless are called bergies.

Boom means tree in Afrikaans and is the word used for cannabis

Broekies or broeks – panties or underwear

So, now that you know the meaning of these slang words, as a foreigner to South Africa, would you understand this?

Hey, boet, I drank too much at our braai last night and now I have a huge babelas.   Put your broeks on and let’s take your bakkie into town.  Don’t forget the bakkie in the fridge with the leftover boerewors in it. We can give it to the bergies.  Let’s hope that they are not high on boom!

Hope that made you smile….