flaaitaal, noun

/ˈflaɪtɑːl/
Forms:
Also flytaal, and with initial capital.
Origin:
English, AfrikaansShow more English fly knowing, clever + Afrikaans taal language.
An urban (especially township) argot made up of a mixture of Afrikaans and Sintu-language (Bantu-language) grammatical structures, and vocabulary drawn from many of the languages spoken in South Africa as well as new coinages; die taal, see taal sense 1 b; isicamtho; isijita; mensetaal; tsotsi-taal, see tsotsi sense 2; formerly also called Shalambombo.
Note:
‘Flaaitaal’ is preferred by some to ‘tsotsitaal’, the latter being considered either outdated or insulting (as ‘tsotsi’ means ‘thug’ or ‘gangster’). Others prefer the term ‘isicamtho’.
1959 L. Longmore Dispossessed 250Tsotsis have their own secret language known as flaaitaal or tsotsi slang, which is continually being improved on and added to. These flaaitaals differ from city to city and even in different parts of the cities themselves.
1978 B. Mfenyana in E. Prov. Herald 1 May 3I would like to focus specifically on the modern language of the tsotsis the lower class young people, and ‘fly taal’, the language of ‘hip’ city slickers.
1979 C. Van der Merwe in Frontline Dec. 17If you know what’s good for you, you’d better not call it tsotsi-taal...Not that Flytaal is all that different from tsotsi-taal..but it’s finding itself a new image.
1979 C. Van der Merwe in Frontline Dec. 18Nobody seems to know where the ‘Fly’ of Flytaal comes from. (...It might just as well be ‘flie’, ‘vlei’ or ‘flaai’.)
1987 C.T. Msimang in S. Afr. Jrnl of Afr. Langs July 82Tsotsitaal is also known as Flaaitaal.
1989 Willemse & Ziller in Staffrider Vol.8 No.1, 120Makhadu’s paper on flaaitaal was received with great scepticism from the floor. Makhadu pressed for the recognition of the existence and literary worth of flaaitaal.
An urban (especially township) argot made up of a mixture of Afrikaans and Sintu-language (Bantu-language) grammatical structures, and vocabulary drawn from many of the languages spoken in South Africa as well as new coinages; die taal, see taal sense 1 b; isicamtho; isijita; mensetaal; tsotsi-taal, see tsotsi sense 2; formerly also called Shalambombo.
Derivatives:
Hence flaaitaler  /-tɑːlə/ noun, one who speaks flaaitaal.
1979 C. Van der Merwe in Frontline Dec. 17Flytalers declare that, give or take a few regional variations, they can make their way from Seshego to Manenberg on it...True Flytalers react to the term tsotsi-taal in more or less the same way one might expect P.W. Botha to react if you told him his policy was Baasskap, or even Apartheid. It’s out, gone, yesteryear’s name, something to be lived down.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19591989

Derivatives

flaaitaler

Browse Related Words

By Category

Languages
Urban Life and Environment

By Origin

English
Afrikaans
fiskaal, nounn.flank, nounn.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.