The Quintessential Heritage Day Braai?
August 5, 2025
Having previously worked for a Swedish company, I would often have dealings with colleagues from foreign countries and have them visit South Africa for business. It was always a delight and proud moment showing them the glorious parts of South Africa like the game reserves, the Cango caves, Table Mountain and the Drakensberg, to mention a few. But what was most entertaining was teaching them the meaning of SA lingo. South African slang is quirky, vibrant and extremely confusing and entertaining for our foreign visitors.
Been heritage month and Heritage Day been all about celebrating South Africa, her people and their diverse cultures, I thought it would rather appropriate to celebrate our South African slang that is so intriguing and loved by overseas visitors.
When my overseas colleagues heard the Saffas talking, the phrases that seemed to intrigue them the most were:
- “Just now” – this was most certainly on top of the list. They could never grasp what “just now” actually meant. Yet for every South African its 100% understandable and could mean anything from within the next minute to within the next 2 hours, or anytime in the future.
- “Gatvol” – there is no other word in the world that describes one’s feelings when you are fed up quite like gatvol.
- “Robot” – Robots are the lights that control and direct the traffic. I mean how else should we refer to this ingenious device that a lot of taxi drivers ignore anyway?
- “Lekker” – a word to describe something that is nice, good and just awesome. Most visitors will leave with the word lekker as part of their vocab.
- “Braai”- every visitor was treated to a braai, leaving wanting more of that unique flavor of cooking over an open flame. And no, it’s not a BBQ.
- “Howzit” – a standard way to say “Hello, how are you?” Within a few days, my colleagues were using howzit as a greeting.
- “Eish” – a word used to describe disbelief, surprise or regret.
There are many more slang words that SA is known for, but the above 7 is what I recall always having to explain to my colleagues. Invariably they left SA, in love and in awe. Always commenting how beautiful our country is and how wonderful and warm the people are, with their unique mannerisms and quirky slang.
As a country, South African has a lot to offer and be proud of. We also have a vast range of quality locally made products which deserve our support and together we can start a movement to support our local small businesses. This is what We R Local aims to achieve, getting more local awareness and support for our proudly South African products and brands. To support this movement, sign up as vendor or list in our local directory and shop at www.werlocal.co.za. Together we can make a difference.
Till our next blog, Shop Local, Support Dreams
