slap, adjective

/slap/
Forms:
Also slup.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, dangling; weak, flabby; flexible.
1. slang. Feeble, lacking energy; ineffectual; disorganized, sloppy; lacking in discipline; flabby, limp, slack; (especially of food) runny, soft.
1970 K. Nicol Informant, Durban, KwaZulu-NatalOnly a very slap mackie could live in a pigsty of a room like this.
1970 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)That horse is slap, he can barely go faster than a jog.
[1972 M. Van Biljon in Star 16 June 6Members of the Cabinet..are gradually exchanging those long slap limousines that used to make parliamentary parking look like an undertakers’ convention.]
1973 K. Dawe Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)I really hated that school — one could only call it ‘slap’.
[1978 Informant, Free StateHis nickname at school was Slap, because he was so casual and easygoing.]
1982 Sunday Times 15 Aug. 3It was while she was at this ad agency that the idea of ‘The Kugel Book’ was born — although it took her three years to write because she was ‘very slap’.
1984 Informant, Johannesburg, GautengIf the organization’s slap the results are slap and that’s all there is to it.
1985 Fair Lady 3 Apr. 139If it rains or there is what the locals call a ‘slap’ mist, the flowers might not open at all.
1991 TV1, 24 Apr. (Big Time)The people are complaining the pap is too slap.
1991 P. Buck Informant, Johannesburg, GautengI’m sorry that this is such a ‘slap’ communication, but I look forward to hearing from you.
1993 A.L. Haycock Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)He brought chips..— crisp outside and slap inside.
2. Special collocations
slap chip. colloquial, usually in the plural, hot fried potato chips (distinguishing these from ‘chips’, the South African English term for potato crisps), often referring to chips fried until they are cooked but not crisp;
slapgat/ˈslapxat/ slang [see quotation 1973], not in polite use, (as adjective) useless, lazy, slovenly, undisciplined; (as noun) a lazy or undisciplined person.
1972 R. Malan Ah Big Yaws 17Several Dry-fin [drive-in] restaurants cunningly distinguish between these (sc. crisps) and the French-fried potato chips by referring to the latter as Long chups or Slup chups.
1986 D. Wilson in Argus 1 Jan. 2Antoinette let out a joyous shriek like an early-morning seagull discovering some discarded slap chips outside a roadhouse.
1988 Flying Springbok Oct. 141These days, it is perfectly possible to plan a holiday that actually avoids the lunchtime slap chips and burgers of wayside cafés.
1988 Weekly Mail 18 Oct. 19James..with his celebrated Portuguese cafe...‘You want one packet of Chesterfield, slap chips, what you want?’
1989 B. Ronge in Sunday Times 9 Apr. (Mag. Sect.) 9I once starved myself all day to do justice to an immensely chi-chi repast prepared by a visiting French chef...After the meal..I fled straight to the nearest Bimbo’s where I bought a large packet of hot, slap chips drenched in vinegar.
1990 C. Fluxman on TV1, 17 Oct. (Good Morning South Africa)There’s nothing like a delicious burger with onions and slap chips.
1991 Fair Lady 27 Mar. 49Final proof that the royals are human — Heinz Tomato Ketchup features on their list of warrants. For the Queen Mother’s burgers? The Queen’s hot dogs? Di’s slap chips?
1991 Sunday Times 2 June (Mag. Sect.) 37It was one of those small little Portuguese supermarkets...You could buy old eggs, old fish in batter, the usual slap chips, a toasted whatever. Or you could go for peri-peri chicken.
1993 M. Schofield in Cape Librarian Mar. 38A plate of ‘slap’ chips and tomato sauce and coffee stylishly served in styrofoam cups.
1970 S.E. Natham Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeSlapgat. Untidy (crude).
1973 Beeton & Dorner in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.4 No.2, 51Slapgat, adj..lit: slack hole. Vulgar expression wh[ich] refers to a useless person.
1974 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Mrs S— said in class this morning that we were the most slapgat school she’d ever been in.
1985 P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at Palace 11Vince: Katz!? What about him? Forsie: He’s a slapgat.
Feeble, lacking energy; ineffectual; disorganized, sloppy; lacking in discipline; flabby, limp, slack; (especially of food) runny, soft.
Derivatives:
Hence slapheid  noun [Afrikaans, abstract noun-forming suffix -heid -ness], looseness, sloppiness.
1978 Darling 20 Dec. 33She shambles across the room..and throws herself into a chair, arms dangling. There is a familiar slapheid about her actions which doesn’t quite level with the new-look.
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Compounds & Derivatives

slap chip
slapgat
slapheid
slangvreeter, nounn.slaphakskeentjies, nounn.
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