Cape Town Data

Cape Town Explained

Short facts about Cape Town's language, food, music, traditions and places, including its stranger details.

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Did you know?Language & Slang

Takkies are trainers, and the dictionary has two competing theories about the name and backs neither.

The Dictionary of South African English defines a tackie or takkie as a rubber-soled canvas shoe, and gives the origin as uncertain: possibly English tacky meaning sticky, possibly a Scottish dialect word meaning cheap and rubbishy.

South Africa · 1913 Read the story

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Did you know?Language & Slang

Lank means plenty, and the dictionary admits it does not know where the word came from.

The Dictionary of South African English labels lank as slang used especially by schoolchildren and young adults, meaning plenty of, or good, or simply very. The etymology is given as unknown.

South Africa · 1970 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Howzit is a greeting and a question at once, which is why nobody is sure whether to answer it.

The Dictionary of South African English gives howzit as a contraction of how is it, equivalent to hello but also carrying the enquiry how are you. Its citations run from 1975 to 1992.

South Africa · 1975 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Mos is the smallest word in the room and it changes the whole sentence.

Mos is an Afrikaans-derived particle meaning after all, of course or you know, dropped into a sentence for emphasis. The Dictionary of South African English traces it to West Flemish mos and cites it in English from 1900.

South Africa · 1900 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

In South Africa, taxi does not mean a metered cab. It means a sixteen-seater minibus on a fixed route.

The Dictionary of South African English defines taxi in its South African sense as a light vehicle, typically a sixteen-seater minibus, carrying passengers on fixed routes for set fares and not running to a timetable.

South Africa Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

A newspaper once claimed you could hold a South African conversation with about four words.

The Dictionary of South African English quotes a 1972 Star piece saying a conversation could be carried on with only four words, among them shame and is it. Shame expresses sympathy or fondness; is it is calqued on the Afrikaans is dit.

South Africa · 1972 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

"Just now" often means later. "Now-now" usually means much sooner.

In South African English, "just now" means after a while and "now-now" means in a moment, or a moment ago. The Dictionary of South African English records both, and both are national usage.

South Africa Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

South Africans call a traffic light a robot, and it is not a joke about the future.

"Robot" is standard South African English for a traffic light, recorded in the Dictionary of South African English. It is used nationally, not just in Cape Town.

South Africa Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Bru and bra sound like the same word. One is Afrikaans, the other is English through isiXhosa and isiZulu.

The Dictionary of South African English derives bru from the Afrikaans broer and bra from English brother, explaining the bl- variants of bra by the regular shift of r to l when English words are used in Nguni languages.

South Africa · 1956 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

"Sho't left" means drop me just around the corner, and it is used all over South Africa.

"Sho't left" is minibus taxi language for pull over here. South African Tourism borrowed it in 2004 for a domestic travel campaign. It is national usage, not a Cape Town speciality.

South Africa Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Kwaai can mean fierce, or excellent.

From the Dutch and Afrikaans kwaad, meaning bad or angry, kwaai described a fierce animal or a cross person. The Dictionary of South African English records an approving sense from 1974, and both senses are current.

Cape Flats Read the story
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Jol went national, but the dictionary traces its English pronunciation to working-class Cape speech.

Jol means a party or a good time. The Dictionary of South African English derives it from Afrikaans and says the South African English pronunciation reflects either the Afrikaans accent of working-class Cape Coloured communities or an Englished form.

Cape Town · 1957 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Taxis were once called Zola Budds, after the runner. The name was first used for slow police vehicles.

The Dictionary of South African English gives two senses for Zola Budd: a police vehicle, especially a slow one, cited from 1985, and a minibus taxi, cited from 1987, named for the speed of the runner.

South Africa · 1985 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Eish does the work of a whole sentence, and the dictionary traces it to tsotsitaal.

The Dictionary of South African English gives eish as an interjection covering displeasure, surprise, wonder, resignation and outrage, derived from tsotsitaal, with the first English citation in the Sunday Independent in September 1998.

South Africa · 1998 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

The Western Cape has three official languages, and none of them is spoken by a majority.

Section 5 of the Constitution of the Western Cape, 1997 gives Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa equal official status for provincial government. Census 2022 records 41.2 per cent of the province speaking Afrikaans most often at home, 31.4 per cent isiXhosa and 22.0 per cent English.

Western Cape · 1997 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Calling a friend my china is Cockney rhyming slang that made it to South Africa and stayed.

The Dictionary of South African English derives china, meaning mate, from the Cockney rhyming slang china plate. South African citations run from 1972 to 2023.

South Africa · 1972 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Baie, piesang, blatjang and baadjie are everyday Afrikaans words with Malay roots.

The Dictionary of South African English derives baie from the Malay banyak, piesang from pisang, blatjang from belachan and baadjie from baju. Their earliest South African citations run from 1786 to 1890.

Cape Town Read the story
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Eina, the South African cry of pain, may be one of the oldest words in the local English vocabulary.

The Dictionary of South African English gives eina as Afrikaans, perhaps from Khoikhoi interjections of pain and surprise, or from a Nama interjection. The first English citation is 1913.

South Africa · 1913 Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Kaaps got its first dictionary in 2026, centuries after people started speaking it.

The Kaaps Woordeboek, the first trilingual dictionary of the Cape Flats language Kaaps, was launched at the Castle of Good Hope on 23 April 2026. The UWC linguist Quentin Williams compiled it.

Cape Flats · 2026 Read the story
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The person hanging out of the taxi window shouting Wynberg has a job title: gaartjie.

In Cape Town the gaartjie, also written gaatjie or guardjie, is the crew member on a minibus taxi who calls the destination, works the door and takes the fares.

Cape Town Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

Afrikaans grew out of Cape Dutch in contact with Khoekhoe, Malay and a Portuguese creole.

The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures says Afrikaans arose from the colloquial Cape Dutch of Dutch settlers under the influence of Khoekhoe, South African Portuguese Creole and South African Malay. How exactly it happened is still argued about.

Cape Town Read the story
Did you know?Language & Slang

The first recorded English use of lekker, in 1847, was about hippopotamus.

Lekker is Afrikaans and Dutch for delicious, and it now covers anything good. The Dictionary of South African English dates its first English citation to 1847, about hippo hoof.

South Africa · 1847 Read the story

Matching facts

Takkies are trainers, and the dictionary has two competing theories about the name and backs neither.

Lank means plenty, and the dictionary admits it does not know where the word came from.

Howzit is a greeting and a question at once, which is why nobody is sure whether to answer it.

Mos is the smallest word in the room and it changes the whole sentence.

In South Africa, taxi does not mean a metered cab. It means a sixteen-seater minibus on a fixed route.

A newspaper once claimed you could hold a South African conversation with about four words.

"Just now" often means later. "Now-now" usually means much sooner.

South Africans call a traffic light a robot, and it is not a joke about the future.

Bru and bra sound like the same word. One is Afrikaans, the other is English through isiXhosa and isiZulu.

"Sho't left" means drop me just around the corner, and it is used all over South Africa.

Kwaai can mean fierce, or excellent.

Jol went national, but the dictionary traces its English pronunciation to working-class Cape speech.

Taxis were once called Zola Budds, after the runner. The name was first used for slow police vehicles.

Eish does the work of a whole sentence, and the dictionary traces it to tsotsitaal.

The Western Cape has three official languages, and none of them is spoken by a majority.

Calling a friend my china is Cockney rhyming slang that made it to South Africa and stayed.

Baie, piesang, blatjang and baadjie are everyday Afrikaans words with Malay roots.

Eina, the South African cry of pain, may be one of the oldest words in the local English vocabulary.

Kaaps got its first dictionary in 2026, centuries after people started speaking it.

The person hanging out of the taxi window shouting Wynberg has a job title: gaartjie.

Afrikaans grew out of Cape Dutch in contact with Khoekhoe, Malay and a Portuguese creole.

The first recorded English use of lekker, in 1847, was about hippopotamus.