Idioom : Om krokodiltrane te huil.
Ek het krokodiltrane gehuil toe ek hoor P.W. Botha
is nie meer President van Suid-Afrika nie.
To shed crocodile tears. Pretended grief. From the
old legend that crocodiles make weeping sounds
to attract victims and then shed tears while eating
them.
I was quite surprised to find this expression in the
Dictionary of American Idioms. I thought that they
would not use the word "crocodile," since they call the
varieties here "alligators." I was even surprised that
such an expression existed in English, because the
crocodile was surely not something that figured large
in the consciousness of the people of Europe. But I
was wrong. It is from the Middle English cocodril,
from Medieval Latin cocodrillus, from Latin croco-
dilus, from Greek krokodilos : "worm of the pebbles"
(from its habit of basking in the sun; kroke (pebbles)
drilos (worm). I guess even in ancient times the people
especially of Southern Europe and Egypt were aware
of the geography and the flora and fauna of especially
the northeastern part of Africa above the equator.
So ry die trein, so ry die trein,
die Kimberley se trein.
So ry die trein, so ry die trein,
die Kimberley se trein.
Hoor daar hoe stoom hy,
stoom hy, stoom hy,
opdraand en afdraand,
Kimberley se trein.
So : in this way, so
ry: ride, go
trein : train
hoor : hear
stoom : steam
opdraand : uphill
afdraand : downhill
hill : heuwel
Kimberley is the site of the biggest manmade hole
in the world. In the 1860's they found very large
diamonds there, like the 83 carat "Star of South
Africa." Cecil John Rhodes, a sickly young man
from England, became the wealthiest and most
powerful man in Africa because of these diamonds.
Barney Barnato, a boy from a London slum, became
a mining magnate and a multi-millionaire. One of
the farms, on which diamonds were found, was owned
by a farmet called De Beer. Rhodes bought that farm,
and called the firm he created "De Beers." This is still
one of the biggest players in the diamond industry in
the world. Today the firm is run by the Oppenheimers.
There are no high hills in the Kimberley region.
In fact, once the wife of a train driver told me that
her husband told her that on the stretch between De
Aar and Kimberley they put the train on automatic
pilot and go to sleep. It therefore always intrigued me
that this song should talk exclusively about the train
going uphill and downhill. My own private theory
is that the song originated with the population around
Cape Town, probably in the last century when the
diamond rush was on. In order to get, by train, from
Cape Town to Kimberley, you had to go up and down
quite steep mountains to get out of the Western Cape.
(That was before they made some tunnels through the
mountains.) But after that everything is very flat for
hundreds of miles, going through the semi-desert areas
of the Great Karoo and the northern Cape.
Of course, there are not only diamonds at Kimberley.
The Gariep (or Orange) River ate through the diamond-
bearing cone of an ancient volcano millions of years ago,
and washed some of these diamonds down stream. There
were therefore alluvial diamonds to be found along the
banks of the Orange river. At the mouth of the Orange
River they found large quantities of diamonds just buried
in the sand, ready to be picked up by the basketful. These
days they have to dig in the sand to get at them. They also
dredge the seabed at the mouth of the river to recover the
diamonds. This operation is in the hands of De Beers.
"Suid-Afrika se chemiese en biologiese program bestaan glo minstens
sedert 1976.
"Die dweld Mandrax is na bewering kort nadat die
Soweto-opstande van 1976 begin het, op groot skaal op groot skaal
onder swart leerlinge versprei om hulle weerstand af te breek en hulle
"gedienstig" te maak.
"Beeld verneem dat dit 'n projek van die ou Weermag se
Militere Intelligensie (MI) was. Daar is gister voorts aan Beeld
beweer dat die ou Veiligheidspolisie in die laat tagtigerjare 'n
soortgelyke dwelmprojek gehad het waarin onder meer Mandrax teen
politieke vyande gebruik is."
Meer besonderhede en die volledige program van die Klein Karoo
Nasionale Kunstefees op Oudtshoorn is nou op die Net beskikbaar: http://karoofees.com
As jy sukkel om daar kontak te maak, vat die lang pad: http://naspers.co.za en klik dan net op die Karoofees-knoppie
As u "een van die nuusgroep se mense" is, het u nou die geleentheid om te
oordeel oor kooos se vertolking van my weergawe van die geskiedenis.
Kooos het my (nie te beleefde nie) versoek om die volgende vraag te stel:
Vertolk u my weergawe van die geskiedenis op dieselfde manier as kooos?
(Sy vertolking verskyn hieronder.)
Indien wel, gee asseblief u naam.
Op 5 Februarie skryf kooos:
> Jy "hint" deurentyd na jou weergawe van die geskiedenis, wat vreemd
> genoeg deur meer as een van die nuusgroep se mense op dieselfde wyse
> gelees en geinterpreteer word.
Ek reageer:
Kooos vervolg:
In article fe...@is.co.za (Koos) writes:
> >
> 1. Verwoerd en Bhengu is nie te onderskei nie.
> 2. Die basis van apartheid was dat die NP geglo het hy weet beter
> wat goed is vir ander. Niks meer as dit nie.
> (Dis toevallig iets wat elke liewe regering op Gods aarde oortuig
> van is. En elke politieke party. En elke iemand wat 'n politieke
> argument voer.)
> > jy beweer. Dan vra ons hulle sommer openlik of hulle dit ook so sien.>>>
> Vra hulle self.
> Ek vertolk wat jy se as 'n agterdog-saaing teen die nuwe
> staatsbestel in SA en 'n toeverf van die gruwels van die vorige
> bestel.
> En 'n baie besliste poging om die bestel van die verlede gelyk te stel
> aan die bestel van vandag.
So, as u my weergawe van die geskiedenis op dieselfde manier vertolk as kooos,
gee asseblief u naam.
Vinkel en Koljander :
Vinkel en Koljander, die een is soos die ander.
English: "Six of the one and half a dozen of the other."
"Vinkel" is "fennel" in English. Koljander is "coriander."
These two plants look much the same. I assume that this
saying is of Dutch origin.
Voorbeeld: "Leendert dink dat Bhengu en Verwoerd
vinkel en koljander is."
Ek hoop dat Bhengu meer onderwys het as ons Minister
van Onderwys hier in Ontario. Hulle sê dat hy 'n "school
dropout" is en net glo graad ses gemaak het in 'n openbare
skool. Dis deesdae in die mode om "school dropouts" te
wees in Noord-Amerika. Peter Jennings, wat die pos by
CBS van die legendariese Walter Cronkite ge-erf het, het
nie sy hoërskool hier in Kanada klaargemaak nie.
G'n gedig storm gillend
op jou af, gryp jou
voor die bors en deklameer:
"HIER'S EK!"
nie.
Veel eerder word jy jou gewaar van
'n skuifel deur die hoek van die oor,
die dun kontoere van 'n sluip,
'n stil skadu wat oor die wete gly
- dan's dit weer verby.
Net as 'n mens fyner kyk
sal 'n vers haar meer laat lyk
as die buitelyne van 'n blyk.
As jy peinsend, speurend, ag bly slaan,
kan haar skaamte langsaam taan -
tot oplaas 'n sluier wyk
en so volmaak, volledig voor jou staan.
Gedigte is skugter,
openbaar hulself selde -
en dan slegs aan 'n geduldige digter.
Suikerbossie, ek wil jou hê,
Suikerbossie, ek wil jou hê,
Suikerbossie, ek wil jou hê,
wat sal jou mamma daarvan sê?
Dan loop ons so onderdeur die maan,
dan loop ons so onderdeur die maan,
dan loop ons so onderdeur die maan,
ek en my Suikerbossie saam!
Sy kan nie kos kook nie,
haar kos is rou;
sy kan nie tee maak nie,
haar tee is flou;
sy kan nie brood bak nie,
dis als verbrou,
tog wag ek, Suikerbossie,
net vir jou.
Siena, ek is lief vir jou (2)
wat sê jou mamma nou?
Suikerbos : sugar bush, protea, pet name for girl
in this song
wil hê : to want
daarvan : of it, about it
sê : to say
loop : walk
onderdeur die maan : underneath the moon
saam : together
kos : food
rou : raw
flou : weak
brood : bread
verbrou : messed up
tog : yet, still
lief vir jou : love, like you
The "suikerbossie" referred to here as a term of
endearment for his love, is of course the protea
which was, and could probably still be, the national
flower of South Africa. It is found mainly in the
mountains of the Western Cape, most profusely in
the Cape Peninsula, which has, per square mile,
more species of flora than any other place in the
world.There are proteas of all sizes, from the giant
protea to very tiny ones.
The nectar of the giant protea was apparently used
in the past as a source of sugar, thence the name
suikerbos.
Verduideliking: jy kan die persoon as 'n goeie voorbeeld neem.
(Engels: you can take this person as a role-model. I'm sorry, there must
be an English equivalent?)
(Duits: Du kannst Dir Scheiben von ihm abschneiden)
Voorbeeld: As dit by die ywerige versamel, intik en instuur van goeie
Afrikaanse gedigte kom, kan jy maar aan Gloudina Bouwer se oksel ruik!
--
Stefan...@mbnet.mb.ca
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