It's the little things, take 1

Since common journalism wisdom recommends helping your interview subjects identify with you, I’m doing my best at work to sound as local as possible without actually forging an accent (though, like that time I went to Texas, I do find myself unconsciously and subtly mimicking at times anyway). I’m starting a list of potentially interesting Cape Town –isms, influenced variously by British, Xhosa, Zulu, Dutch, and other cultures in the South African pipeline.

Words:
“robots” = traffic lights.
“geyser” (GEE-zer) = water heater
“phone me” instead of “call me”
“petrol” instead of “gas” for cars
*A whole lot of people say “cheers” without irony. I had gotten into a whole ironic in-joke regarding “cheers” just before leaving the States, and still find it difficult to actually respond normally.

British spellings. Enough said.

When giving a phone number, digits are usually grouped the same as in US, with (area code or name of city) ### - ####. But repeated digits are almost always mentioned, regardless of how they fall in the grouping. So 011 375 5444 would probably be said “Johannesburg 37 double-5 triple-4.”

Text messaging on cell phones is not considered unprofessional here, and frequently businesses will have SMS-only phone lines instead of/to supplement normal customer service lines. I have a few times been advised to SMS a source who is stuck in meetings all day. And it worked.

The metric system, which has complicated cooking slightly. Preheating the oven requires a calculator. My coworkers will say things along the lines of “30 degrees in Durban today! Lucky sods!”

Rain and 15 today. 30 degrees in Durban. Lucky sods.