Word of the Day [21 Jan 2026]

amatile-tile

Xhosa plural for stratagems. It is actually just amatile. Singular is itile. The ti is pronounced like English tea and le as in French. From the Sanskrit kutila which appear in Xhosa as ukutila.


My car broke down on the way, I had to make amatile-tile to get here.

Chief

General term used by people in politics (comrades) and Tenderpreneurs to refer to each other.


No one:
Comrade: Why are you being emotional, chief? Politics are not for the weak.

Benin

A West African country known as the birthplace of voodoo, with historical kingdoms and growing cotton industry.


We studied the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey in what is now modern Benin.


Piss pipe

A term that means a penis or dick.


I'll be back, gotta go drain the piss pipe.

Madiba

A Xhosa clan name that was made famous by former president Nelson Mandela.


Madiba passed away in December 2013.


The Rona

A term your Skrr skrr kids use to refer to covid-19 (Coronavirus).


Skrr skrr 1: Don't come too close to me without a mask, fam.

Skrr skrr 2: Why, you think I have The Rona?

Arthur Zwane

A plumber who is the current coach of Kaizer Chiefs.


Don’t worry, Arthur Zwane is rebuilding.


Mxit

Mxit was a popular South African social media platform before the times of WhatsApp.
That's what we used to get girls back in the day.


Niggas had a girlfriend in every province during the Mxit days 🤣

Ubuntu

A quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity.


"there is a need for understanding not vengeance, ubuntu not victimization"


Show me your number

Show me your number is a popular soccer/football skill in South Africa, where the player pretends to shoot the ball and the defender ducks, hence showing his/her number to the attacker.


They hit him with a “show me your number” and the crowd went crazy.

During the people

Is a general term used to refer to "around people" or ween there are people present.


Imagine, they were busy kissing during the people.




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