Zambian Drops...
Ba ka’amba – from ‘ba kalamba’ big person/man. Generally used to address either a friend or one whose name youu don’t know ‘ati how ba ka’amba’
Bermuda – Shorts. Has been around for a while! Still makes my list though
Better TV – a prostitute. [from a song by Danny of the same title. Remember, when you pay it will show!]
black table – a table laden with beer that has just been consumed
Chocholi – rather derogatory reference to a Chinese person
Consulate [con’shleti] – popular menthol cigarette
Damage – impregnate a female [of course, one would say impregNANT lol]
Dish – satellite TV esp. DSTv
Dizz’ – drunk. From ‘dizzy’, except its pronounced as one syllable
Father – used to call a man’s name you don’t know. Gained popularity around last year!
Gas – petrol/gasoline. Bus and taxi drivers are increasingly using this word for petrol. Interesting hey?
Ghetto – compound. [e.g Ng’ombe, Kalikiliki]
Gon’ga – noun. an imitation product. verb. To be swindled
Ku ma dizz’ – a bar/tavern. Or when someone has gone drinking, he has gone ku ma dizz’ [literally at the dizzy place]
Ku ma yard [yadi] – Suburbs. [literally at the yards]
Long nose – formal shoes with a long front-end. Used to impress tu mpopo in the ghetto.
ma packs – Opaque beer. Also known as shake-shake, blue print, brown or bulk.
Ma pint – Lager beer. Mosi and castle
Mahafu – Money. [from ma-half. When you get paid, half for mealie-meal, half to your mother, half for beer, half for repaying debts…. Catch the drift?]
McGyver – Using ingenious methods and simple tools and materials to fix something. i.e. a bit of wire to hold together your cha**is]. From the popular 1980s TV series of the same name
Metre [mita] – a million kwacha. Origin unknown!
Mpopo – a girl/woman. Rather disrespectful
Paging power – having enough talktime to give someone a missed call [do you have paging power? I wanna get in touch with Queen]
Peter [pita] – Peter Styvesant.
Pin – one thousand kwacha. Origin unknown!
Short-time – a brief encounter with Better TV
Swine – a vest/waistcoat. Or sleeveless pullover.
Tropical [tropiko] – Flip-flops. We used to say ‘pata-pata’ back in the day
Uli che? Nili che – Are you fine? I’m fine. From Nyanja ‘uli chabe bwino’ was shortened to ‘uli che’
Queen - mother
Yo-bali – a teenager wearing baggy jeans, a huge t-shirt, straight cap and making noise. Also called ama-yo.
Wire [waya] – an old motor vehicle in bad condition. From wire cars, the ones that kids in the ghetto play with
Zali – a hundred kwacha. Or a hundred thousand kwacha.
Yama - Popular term now used to for 'friend'. Bemba for 'Uncle'
Cable - Any pay-tv. e.g DSTv or G-Tv [from the US, i guess!]
Sub - Bus [an example of reverse slang, one of many]
Nof - Phone [reverse]
Tapi - Party [reverse]
gigo - I dont want
2 pulls - a small timeframe
Kaleza- I swear on my life
Ku bond- Home
Tong- Money
Kaboodo- Young person (probably from the cartoon Kaboodle, anyone remember the song 'Skinny malinki-dinky doo?)
Contravening - Any traffic offence
Shansha - Hustle, stay strong.
Zooker - Being a beer vulture
John Cena - really big local bunz
Undertaker - Cooked sweet potato ( because of the deadly choke hold that the Undertaker is known for)
CNN- A hairstyle ( I cant describe it well enough)
Egoli- A hairstyle (cant describe this one either!)
SOLOLA........PROSTITUTE
(got this off a facebook group called 'lusaka')
