On a lighter note, lets share a little bit of our cunning and bold language. I’ve been thinking what words would be interesting and for some reason I keep thinking of food, so here goes:

Aartappel: take a guess. It obviously refers to earth and apple – some kind of apple from the earth – Yes, you’ve got it!! – it’s a potatoe.

Pynappel: Ok, this one is easy, obviously it is a Pineapple, but in English Pine refers to a tree or something (I think). In Afrikaans Pyn is the word we use when we hurt somewhere, when we ache. Like “I have a headache” would be translated as “Ek het hoofpyn”. So if you translate Pynappel directly to English it would be an “Aching apple”   - Sounds a little bit like something you could get in one of Terry Pratchett’s novels about Tiffiny Aching. If you have no idea what I am talking about, go look here and here.

Ok, and then I thought of one other word, one with a little bit of emotional meaning:

Nooi:  It basically means “girl” but it can be used as the term to refer to a young mans girlfriend.  It is also used as an endearment term when an older person talks to a younger female not only for a girl, also a young woman.  For me it caaries something over that says “this person cares”.  It is the kind of word that makes a person feel safe – although it must be said with the right intonation, because it can also be demeaning.  And then, this same word “nooi” is also the term used to invite guests, i.e. “You are invited to….” is translated as “U word uitgenooi na….”

Ok, this was fun – have a nice weekend!!!