Who's the Bus?

In every Anglophone country, there are some nuances that need to be heeded. Like in the US, a fanny refers to your posterior, whereas in Britain it refers to the female bits on the flip side. These differences can certainly lead to uncomfortable or embarrassing encounters. In South Africa, one of the most difficult things to adjust to is the vocabulary of race.

As I was strolling to the grocery the other day, a man called to me from across the street, “Hey Boss.” Sigh.

This is generally how poor blacks address whites, and inevitably comes out as “bus”. I hate this, because 1) here is a fellow human being presuming to put himself in a subservient position simply because of the color of our skins and 2) I have never been, nor do I aspire to be, “the Boss”.

Anyway, after asking how far it was to Midrand (another 10 miles, good luck with that), and explaining that he was very tired from walking, he asked if he could wash my car. Or clean something. Anything. I explained that I lived in a rental, wished him luck, and went on my way.

How then, do South African whites refer to blacks? I’ve heard Ivan and Paul refer to address as “my baba”. Which, if you’re wondering, is exactly what Ivan calls his infant daughter. There was nothing patronizing in it, and the persons in question never took offence, but it pretty clearly demonstrates the power dynamics in this country.

Particularly cringe-worth to us is the term “coloured”. This is a catch all phrase used under Apartheid to include anyone who didn’t identify as white or black. This includes a whole slew of ethnic and racial groups, from Malaysian descendants to the indigenous San. The majority of coloureds speak Afrikaans, and therefore feel a kinship with whites. They largely live in the Cape, so luckily the term doesn’t come up often, though Marnie and I are slowly weaning off our PC induced panic faces when we hear it.

Unfortunately, an American racial slur has followed us across the pond, namely the n-word. Our trainer buddy Waz once referred to “my n*****s in America”. An American novel about black house workers in the South, “The Help”, is making the wifey rounds down here. Claire raved about the book, noting the similarities between South African black domestic workers and “your American n*****s”. Now Claire doesn’t have a racist bone in her body, and was quite embarrassed when we told her how taboo that word is.

So to hip-hop artists and others who think that there’s an appropriate context for that word, note that they haven’t quite got the message over here yet. So, you know, knock it off.

Note: Normally I disagree with using nonsense characters or otherwise editing out words, mostly because it affords them a power that they don’t deserve. That said, I realize not everyone feels that way, thus my n-wordage.