The Words We Hear: Comments on Language Use and Its Influence

"Mowbray-Kaap, Mitchells Plain, Athlone, Cape Town, Mannenberg, Hiedeveld" These are the locations in Cape Town shouted out by the taxi hawker. Each morning when we wait for our taxi we hear the drivers and hawkers (also known as Guardjie) yelling and trying to get our attention. They stop and ask us where we are going and repeat over and over again their mantra. Even when nobody is around they whistle and shout trying to attract people to get in their taxis. At first this was pretty overwhelming but now we've got it down to a system. Taking a taxi in Cape Town is always an adventure. From getting on the right one, to understanding where to sit and what to pay it takes a while to become an expert. What I've learned? Always go to the back unless you're going a short distance. You will not have enough space. Taxi drivers will convince people to get in their car even when there is no space left; they will make space usually in the form of squishing or something like that. It's good business. Sometimes you'll be invited to sit on a crate or on a "laptop" which is a board which stretches across the isle between two seats to create additional seating. When I doubt, pay six rand but don't ask because then it's obvious you are not a natural. Usually we get to the right place but I'm pretty sure it is never guaranteed that the drivers will go the "normal route" which furthermore I'm pretty sure there is no normal route at all. The driver drive fast often blasting the music, or morning talk show, and therefore drowning out the car horns and shouts of other taxis competing for business. Sometimes we have to switch taxis and that's always confusing as someone just points and says "come" it's a gamble to see if we'll go where we intended. So far it's been successful. We're usually the only white people in the taxi. Fun Fact: 97% of white South Africans have never taken a "minibus taxi".

A taxi headed toward Cape Town. This is our typical transport to town. 

But knowing where to go isn't enough. Understanding the common phrases is the next step in becoming a "local". Although English is used practically everywhere in Cape Town there are common words or phrases that don’t come up in "American English" which are super helpful to understand.  It's pretty awkward when someone has to repeat themselves multiple times before you understand what they are saying. It is advisable to wear a neon "American" sticker on your head so they speak slowly, loudly and "properly" (that's a matter of opinion of course). Cape Townians also speak very softly so if you don't understand the words they are saying or you can't hear them  just nod and act like you totally understand, usually that works just fine.

 Anyway, here is a list of the most popular phrases I've encountered:

Postcard I fount in Jo'Burg!

"Is it?"- similar to "really" in the US, acknowledging a statement

"Cool Drink"- Soda

"Braai- Barbeque

"Robot"- Traffic Light

"Serviettes"- napkins

"Ja"- yes

"Take away"- take out

"Just now"- sometime in the near future, today, tomorrow, eventually or never

"Howzit"- hi

"lift"- elevator, or a ride home

"nappy"- diaper

"Kwaai"- cool

"Shame"-used as a term of endearment or sympathy

"Flat"- apartment

"Jersey"- Sweatshirt

"Invigilation"- proctor

Just to make things a little more confusing, in many "coloured" townships people speak Afrikaans. Although nothing in Cape Town is straight forward so of course they use slang Afrikaans mixed with English words. SO, just when you think you're following along all of a sudden they're not speaking English anymore. This is referred to as "Kitchen Afrikaans" and, yup, there's no way I'm ever going to understand it.

I've been thinking how cool it is that language divides us but also connects us in so many ways. I'm loving learning about this concept in our classes but also in every day life. As we speak about stereotyping and the origin of certain phrases it's becoming more clear to me that our words sometimes box us in or help enforce this idea of needing to fit a certain image, stereotypes. This is clear to me practically every time I speak in Cape Town because I'm automatically labeled American. I have not asked enough questions yet to fully understand the connotation of this label but it's somewhere between educated and privileged and obnoxious and rude. Overall I've spent a lot of time thinking about the words I use each day and realizing that the most thoughtful thing in my head can be perceived differently by other people and this is partly because some things have been part of our speech since we were young and therefore we don't even notice when we are being offensive. It's time to make a change, it'll be hard work.

Here are some phrases we use in the states that I hadn't paid much attention to but now I realize they are grounded in discrimination or racism:

"black sheep"- one who deviates from the standards

"blackballed" or "blacklisted"- ostracized

"blackmail"- to coerce someone

"white lie"- not intended to cause harm

"the pot calling the kettle black"

"seeing things in black and white"- as either wrong or right

"minority"- a word used to describe people of color in the U.S.

It is really quite interesting to look at how American society has created this concept that black people are a minority which is an incorrect statement in the rest of the world. By making the word "minority" almost synonymous with "black",  in many contexts, Americans are "blacking out" an entire population.

Until now, I had not taken too much time to reflect on how important language and word choice can be in our every day lives. From the simplicity of getting around and understanding the "lingo' to the more complex, deeply rooted ideas that plague even our most basic conversations language can be the tool to build up a society or break down an entire race of people. That's a pretty scary thought.