IT'S LEKKER BRU! A USER'S GUIDE TO S.AFRICAN LEXICON

Want to have a lekker time at the World Cup, chomping boerewors
at a braai on the Veld or downing a rooibos at the shebeen next to
the robot?
Here's a newcomer's guide to some uniquely South African words
and phrases for football fans heading to the month-long tournament.

- Howzit: A universal greeting, a short-form version of "How is
it going?"
- Bru: Abbreviation of "brother" used to address friends and
colleagues as in "Howzit bru?"
- Yebo: The Zulu word for Yes which is now used across the
board.

- Sharp: A sign-off signalling an agreement as well as farewell,
often said twice.

- Ag shame: An expression of sympathy or annoyance.

- Eish!: An exclamation expressing exasperation.

- Lekker: An Afrikaans word meaning superb or fantastic which is
applied equally to a person, object or event.

- Braai: An originally Afrikaans word for barbecue, which often
features a sizzling boerewors, a curled spiced sausage.

- Biltong: Dried meat -- usually beef but also from other
animals as ostrich, antelope or buffalo -- which is eaten as a
snack, often accompanied by a beer or glass of wine.

- Rooibos: Red bush tea, South Africa's unofficial national brew
which is grown in the southwestern Cape region.

- Shebeens: Makeshift bars in the townships which sell often
super strength homemade brews.

- Muti: A traditional tree or plant-based medicine. Its
practioners are known as nyangas.

- Sangoma: Traditional Zulu healers or sorcerers who often
summon ancestral spirits to foretell the future.

- Townships: Black-only neighbourhoods under apartheid that were
once mainly shantytowns but now include middle-class areas. The
most famous is Soweto, short-form for SOuth WEst TOwnships, near
Johannesburg.

- Jozi: The abbreviation for the largest city of Johannesburg
which is also known as Joburg.

- Veld or Veldt: An Afrikaans words meaning shrubland, it now
generally refers to the countryside as a whole.

- Robot: Traffic lights.

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