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 up my hand and slap you silly!".

The only similarity between the Afrikaans and English is that neither word describes the action of going down - weird right?

That's all for today. I have to finish barricading my home in the event of an attack by dictionary wielding fanatics.

Location: CXG7+FC Vereeniging, South Africa

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