Looking ahead to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Martha and Grant discuss some terms you might hear there. This is part of a complete episode.
When you’re late for something in Johannesburg, you can always say you were “held up by robots” and no one will think twice. That’s because in South Africa, a robot is a traffic light. The hosts discuss this and other terms...
tromboning n.— «A prime example is the historical monopolisation of the telecoms sector by Telkom. In order to deliver cheaper calls we have been forced to resort to a method called tromboning. Here, we actually re-route calls to...
packing for Perth n.— «The onslaught of unsettling news has proved too much for some with the means to flee. No reliable numbers are kept on emigration, but “packing for Perth”—a phrase used to describe white flight, not necessarily to...
play pump n.— «Two men in South Africa recognized that the average woman in rural Africa has to walk three miles to get clean water. And they created something called “play pumps,” which is a hydraulic system, in which they...
fong kong n.—Gloss: in South Africa and Zimbabwe, a product from Asia, usually believed to be shoddy and cheap. Note: The expression seems to be used both as a count and noncount noun. A similar term is zhing zhong. «Several traders said...