pellie, noun

/ˈpeli//ˈpæli/
Forms:
Also pallie.
Origin:
EnglishShow more Afrikaans pronunciation-spelling of English pal ‘chum, mate’ + -ie.
colloquial
Especially in the Western Cape, among Coloured people: a good friend, a ‘pal’; also used as a term of address. Often in the noun phrases pellie blou or pellie blue (see quotation 1966), and ou pellie, old friend, old pal (see ou adjective sense 1 b).
1959 A. Delius Last Division 75Often me and some old pallies from the war Drank a few doppies to the old Cape Corps.
1961 D. Marais Hey! Van der Merwe (cartoon)A state within a State is jus’ the beginning, ou pellie. Next he’ll want to give us a Nuwejaar within a Nuwejaar.
1963 A. Fugard Blood Knot (1968) 94Zach, he says, Ou Pellie, tonight is the night.
1964 L.G. Green Old Men Say 61‘Het ou Pellie!’ I suppose that is the most typical of the popular greetings that belong essentially to Cape Town; but the origin would be hard to trace. One expert thinks it falls into the Malay-Portuguese group.
1966 Van Heyningen & Berthoud Uys Krige 114Most Cape Town ‘Coloureds’ use such words as ‘pêllie-blou’ (pronounced ‘pally-blow’) which presumably is made up of the English ‘pal’ and the Afrikaans ‘blou’ meaning blue, here as in ‘true blue’.
1974 ‘Blossom’ in Darling 9 Oct. 95They all pally blues, see, what’s travelling around seeing the world together in a old clapped-out Kombi.
1975 ‘Blossom’ in Darling 12 Feb. 119Anyway, Vernon’s he’s ou pellie blue from back home so long.
1977 D. Muller Whitey 108The skolly’s face grew solemn with concern as he squatted down and peered closely. ‘You don’t look so good, ou pellie,’ said Boon.
1988 M. Le Chat in Flying Springbok Apr. 24There is a saying in Cape Town: You can take the people out of District Six, ou pellie, but you’ll never take District Six out of the heart of the people.
1992 K. Williams in South 27 Feb. 23The former ‘Dollar’ says he and Coetzee have been pellies since District 6.
Especially in the Western Cape, among Coloured people: a good friend, a ‘pal’; also used as a term of address. Often in the noun phrases pellie blou or pellie blue (see quotation 1966), and ou pellie, old friend, old pal (see ou adjective sense 1 b).
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colloquial
pelargonium, nounn.peninsula, nounn.
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