Jacob Zuma, the South African president, has nominated former Apartheid era police spy Marthinus van Schalkwyk to replace Yvo de Boer.
Former president Thabo Mbeki used to call him ‘kortbroek’ (short pants) because he was a political lightweight.
(HT: Wattsupwiththat)
If nothing else, Afrikaans is rich in insults (I’m assuming ‘kortbroek’ is Afrikaans).
skepticlawyer
11 Mar 10 at 1:19 am
Looked it up and got this funny snippet at Urban Dictionary.
1. kortbroek
In Afrikaans, means “shorty.” It is the nickname for the spineless rat Marthinus Van Schalkwyk.
Vrot Snoek was loitering outside at the African National Congress national general council last week, waiting to see if he’s going to have to dump the “100% Mbeki” T-shirts he’s been printing. That’s where he heard a nearby police walky-talky crackle, “Car for Minister van Schalkwyk.”
The fuzz holding the receiver looked nonplussed. “Wie?” he asked.
“Car for Minister van Schalkwyk,” came the reply.
Once again: “Wie?” And so it went, back and forth, until the voice finally squawked, “Car for Kortbroek!”
At once, the car was summoned …
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kortbroek
C.L.
11 Mar 10 at 3:02 am
Sorry to derail the thread Sinc but I’ve always thought that “voetsek” was a great insult and yet braai is the worst sounding word for a barbie.Lift your game man
tal
11 Mar 10 at 3:34 am
shiny = Kortbroek
JC
11 Mar 10 at 3:36 am
JC you have a new insult for the short one/evil cherub etc
tal
11 Mar 10 at 3:40 am
CL: good find.
skepticlawyer
11 Mar 10 at 6:43 am
‘voetsek’ is a great word, but I prefer the anglo-saxon ‘fuck off’. I’m indifferent to ‘braai’ and use ‘barbie’.
I’m not aware of many great insults in Afrikaans – however, if you want to ever hear great usage of Afrikaans in an insulting way the Cape Coloured community are able to combine language and insults in very innovative ways.
Sinclair Davidson
11 Mar 10 at 8:07 am
Vrot Snoek = rotten fish
Sinclair Davidson
11 Mar 10 at 2:40 pm