ferd...@icon.co.za (Koos) wrote: > On Thu, 16 Oct 1997 13:56:47 +0800, "Peter McKenzie" > wrote: > I would guess it comes from the fact that Japie was actually a popular > name among Afrikaners. A bit like calling Australians "Bruce" or > "Shiela". I always connected it to sheep. As in the popular Australian Afrikaans lullaby, Japie my skapie Ek verlang na jou There's also a bit about the kalkoentjies but I am not sure whether all our readers are over 18 A > A "Plaasjapie" (directly translated "Farm-japie") was also the name > for someone without city skills and sophistication. Among Afrikaners > "plaasjapie" was popularly used in this way. > This coupled with the fact that Afrikaners in the 1st part of this > century were very rooted in farm and country life, probably led to > Afrikaners being called Japies.
Peter wrote ... |> place of yes when speaking English. 'Ja' in this instance is commonly used in place of the Aussie word 'Yeah'.... In case you did not know, it's actually means 'yes' in Afrikaans. It always seemed most ironic to me, that English speaking South Africans, an arrogant, rather hypocritical segment of the population, that made (1970-81, my time spent in SA) it a sport to deride Afrikaners for their *supposed* ignorance and backwardness, would actually use 'Ja' in just about every sentence. Comment for Afrikaners: Dit blyk vir as ek so in alt.culture.south-africa lees dat die bogenaamde bevolkingsgroep hul nie baie verander het nie... Regards Bo ********************************************* If Dogs Run Free, Then Why Not We? b...@iinet.net.au sch...@training.wa.gov.au