African time, adverbial phrase and & noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more African adjective1 sense 1 + English time.
Note:
Often affectionately jocular, but may be seen as offensive.
A. adverbial phrase According to a perception of time which leads to unpunctuality.
1963 K. Mackenzie Dragon to Kill 32Two-fifteen African time means four o’clock.
B. noun phrase A perception of time which leads to unpunctuality; black time, see black adjective sense 1 d. Also attributive. Cf. Indian time (see Indian noun sense 2 b).
1974 Schoolgirl Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Communion this morning...Real African time set-up here...The service was at 7.30 and at eight o’clock the first person rocks up.
1983 F.G. Butler Bursting World 103It seemed straightforward enough: five p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons...It was the first occasion I found myself on the receiving end of what is affectionately known as African time.
1987 M. Motanyane in Tribute Feb.–Mar.When a friend or business partner..is late..do you accuse them of keeping African time or do you wait for an explanation?
1990 Sunday Times 2 Dec. 23‘African time’ — that measure endemic in this continent where a fixed appointment to meet is no more than a vague indication of the possibility of a meeting, and a rough estimate of season in which it may, or may not, occur.
1990 B. Mabogoawe in Sunday Times 16 Dec. 19People have come to accept that African Time means after a scheduled time. This really should be called Book-Educated African Time (BEAT) and it is the direct opposite of True African Time (TAT) which is the time before the scheduled time.
1991 You 7 Feb. 94In Windhoek, capital of newly independent Namibia, senior Western diplomats have discovered African time with a vengeance.
According to a perception of time which leads to unpunctuality.
A perception of time which leads to unpunctuality; black time, see black adjective sense 1 d. Also attributive.
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19631991
African salad, noun phrasen. phr.Afrika, interjectionint. & nounn.
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