Confucio56

LIFT VS HYSBAK Ok, back to how wonderfully descriptive Afrikaans can be: First of all I must confess that I'm also guilty of saying "kom ons klim in die lift". I try not to use English terms when conversing in Afrikaans, but like smoking it's a bad habit and extremely difficult to break after a lifetime of  abuse. As in my previous blog comparing the word "roltrap" with escalator, herewith another Afrikaans-English comparison. The word "hysbak" refers to a specific set of machinery and cannot be used in any other context. The word "hysbak" consists of two syllables, namely "hys" which means to lift up and "bak" which means container or bucket. So it describes exactly what it does.  Lift on the other hand can be used in various contexts such as; "I will lift you up so you can climb through this window and take the TV and Hi-fi", or "Hey buddy, give us a lift my man" and even "I'm gonna lift ...

HOW DESCRIPTIVE IS AFRIKAANS? Well, as far as I'm concerned and being Afrikaans myself, I've come across quite a few words that are pretty damn descriptive. In the blogs to follow, I will take one Afrikaans word and compare it with its equivalent in English. Please take careful note dear reader;- If you feel offended or think that I'm knocking English as a written and spoken language, be assured that it is most definitely not my intention, but rather to start a conversation/debate around words and their meaning. If however you feel that I'm crossing some invisible line or breaking some unwritten rule, I profusely apologise (maybe profusely is to strong a word). Every language has its own appeal and uniqueness in terms of descriptive words and expressions, and how it is used to paint a mental picture or kick-start our imaginations. So let's start with "roltrap" vs "escalator".  Directly translated, "roltrap" means rolling stairs. If you ...

Normally I'm an easy-going, live and let live kind of person who tries to see the bright and funny side of everyday experiences. Sometimes however, I come across words and expressions that, as an Afrikaans speaking person, makes my hair stand up and leaves a VERY bad taste in my mouth. The latest being the word "Gendersensitiwiteit" that I came across during a Google search for the meaning of the word "sibbe" that is now again being used in the spoken and written Afrikaans language. I will come to the abomination that is the word "sibbe" later in my blog. I found the word "Gendersensitiwiteit" in the web search tag for "Woordeboek van Afrikaans Vandag". Although I spend most of my day conversing and communicating in English, I'm a staunch advocate for Afrikaans as a very descriptive and unique language and would like to see it stay that way. Please do not get me wrong - Afrikaans has,  over the years,  adopted many words and phr...