Gauteng townships, South Africa
Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho
Township mixed varieties drawing on Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sesotho and English at once, rooted in Sophiatown and mid-century tsotsi culture. Multi-source by construction, which makes it the clearest case in this dictionary for recording lineage between communities rather than a single origin.
2 terms
A to ZA greeting: hello. Also in the phrase heita daar (hello there). Recorded by the Dictionary of South African English as urban and especially township usage, and by the 1980s the standard greeting of the mapantsula.
Guys, friends. A Black youth or adult man, and a term of address to one; also lamajita, these guys. One of the most travelled items in the lexicon, current in tsotsitaal varieties well beyond the Gauteng townships where it was first recorded.