Johannesburg – South Africa has a new export product: zef.
Something on the lighter side before the real build up to the weekends Rugby. Also to take our minds away from the Cricket struggle.
Magdel Fourie
After an estimated half-a-million people worldwide watched the music video Zefside of the Cape rap group Die Antwoord on YouTube, there was a sudden scramble and fervent googling to determine what exactly zef is.
And although zef is truly South African, there is anything but consensus about what zef means these days.
Even the origin of zef is unclear. Over the past week Beeld has done wide research regarding the origin of the word and what it means today.
The word is presumably derived from a car which was quite popular in South Africa until the early 1970s: the Ford Zephyr.
The Zephyr later became a favourite among owners who liked to soup-up their engines and add fat tyres with shiny rims.
With these souped-up Zephyrs, men would dice and wheel spin down the streets late at night. People from that era say these were mostly rough guys – real zefs.
Singer and author Koos Kombuis describes zef as a word from his childhood which means common.
Zef takes guts
“These days it’s not necessarily negative. I like being common. It’s like wearing high heels with a tracksuit. Being truly zef takes guts.”
Die Antwoord themselves describe the word zef as the ultimate South African style.
The Afrikaans rapper Snotkop, aka. Francois Henning, feels everything that’s zef today has it’s origin in the 1980s. He also agrees that it doesn’t only have negative connotations.
He points to blue eyeliner, bleached hair, sweat bands and cars with overly powerful sound systems.
“The word gives you a mental picture of what it means and is perfect for what it means. This zef is cool.”
Singer Jack Parow, aka Zander Tyler, says the word originated decades ago.
“In the Cape we’ve been talking like that for jarre and jarre [many years], since I can remember. Both young and old use it.”
Comedian Leon Schuster’s children had to learn the word from their dad over the past weekend. “It’s an old word which has become brand new again. But you only hear it in Afrikaans,” he said.
Dr Frikkie Lombard, editor-in-chief of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT), says the word zef describes what was considered kitsch back in the day, and has been reborn to mean nouveau riche.
“Thus if something is zef, it means it’s something which is usually considered to be common, but nowadays has credibility.”
Zef lingo:
Brannewynvlekke – small dents and scratches on a car
Ching – money
Loodkettie – gun
Darkies – sunglasses
Vroetelvarkie – a sugar daddy
Karate-water – brandy
Graft – working or place of employment
Sponskind – a softie
Pyle – cigarettes
Source: www.watkykjy.com
I’ve got some ‘oke’s” from Elsburg working for me who really seem to fit the bill.
Trouble is, Elsburg is a little bit like “the town that time forgot” and is still stuck in the 1970’s with it’s “spoorie” houses. It even had a drive through bottle store at The Republic Hotel until not too long ago.
1
Drive though bottle store will fit well at Loftus….
btw, for me Zef is what you see at Moftus when the Nulle are playing…LOL
Oh and Zef is also the type that hangs out at Voortrekker weg on Sunday evenings…LOL
2 praat jy uit ‘experience’ uit? lyk my jy was al ‘n hele paar keer daar 🙂
3
Nee sies, daar word jy sommer geklap en op gespoeg vir geen rede nie, dan’t jy nou nog nie eers die mans gesien nie….wille plekke van daai straat af en verder wes, baie wild.
Loosehead !!!!
Lees bietjie hier in geval jy al vergeet het…
“There’s no excuses. We were poor. Terrible. And the Bulls were brilliant,’ Os Du Randt said. ‘We went into the game thinking we could do no wrong but that wasn’t the case. We were well beaten.
‘Guthro had an excellent game and he had the upper hand against WP. We just didn’t stick to the basics. We weren’t solid enough after the engagement and we didn’t scrum as a pack. The loose forwards did not contribute enough at scrum time.”
We were well beaten …bwaaahahahahah
I wonder if throughing bottles at refs and players will count as zef too ?
Naahhh… It’s probably just plain f@cked up !!!!
4 is jy dan ‘n sponskind? 😉
6 bwaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha
He he he
Vuurpoepertjie….die sponskind 😆
Die Antwoord se Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones) en Yolandi Visser het grootgeword in Sunnyside Pretoria. Jones het voorheen minimale sukses as rapper gehad as Max Normal. Hulle probeer iets nuuts met skok lirieke en zef kultuur. Hulle hele “gang” agtergrond is fake en probeer op amerikaanse ganster kultuur hulle deurbraak in Cape Flats maak.
FireS, hoe gaan dit boeta ?
6
Nee Pienkste, daar kan ongellukig net een Zef franchise in SA wees…Nulle wen hands down.
Daai ouens wat die bottels gegooi het is seker nog deel van die Blou Nul exodus supporters van die late ’90’s wat die Sharks begin support het…daar is darm maar min van hulle nog oor… Lol
11
Honger vir ‘n wen, lekker reen hier oppie kus, hoop Vrydag aand is droog…so oor die algemeen kan ek nie kla nie.
# 12
Hel, nou begin jy darem na strooihalms gryp, net om iets te se…
Shyte man, sit bietjie meer tyd in en dink iets uit wat sin maak 😯
14
Ek wil ook nou nie he julle ouens moet glad nie verstaan waarvan ek praat nie, so ek hou dit maar eerder brein dood en eenvoudig… Wink
Om te kwalifiseer om iets “breindood” te hou moet mens ongelukkig eers jouself ‘n brein he !!!
SORRY !!! 🙁
Vuurtjiestraaltjie,
Ja die Blou Nulle darem, NUL keer die S14 gewen, NUL keer die CB gewem die laaste 10 jr…
O nee gits! Ek praat mos nou van die Stormers en die Sharks!
Sorry, my fout. :LOL:
Polisiekoffie – Brandewyn en Coke
Marabse – Stormer, Shark en Cheater supporters
Parow Pyle – Skuilie bliksems van Parow met souped up Corsas.
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