You Mean What?

In an earlier blog, I mentioned the confusion I caused by referring to a toilet as a bathroom.  Well, turns out that toilet is just the tip of the iceberg.

See if you can guess what these terms mean in Americanese:

• Tender
• Boot/bonnet
• bakkie
• secondment
• geyser
• nackered
• kip
• tick
• bore-hole
• lay-by
• torch
• lorry
• sorted out

Here are the translations:

• Tender= offer or request for bids
• Boot/bonnet= truck and hood of an auto
• bakkie= (small) truck
• secondment= temporary loan to another employer.
• geyser= hot water heater
• nackered= tired
• kip= what you do when you are nackered, you take a nap
• tick= the mark you make when ticking a box
• bore-hole= water well
• lay-by= place to pull off the road
• torch= flashlight
• lorry= cargo truck
• sorted out= worked out an issue

Some of you will note that these are mostly British usages, and that Botswana was a British Protectorate until the late 1960s.


Many of you know that I like to memorize from the KJV, 1611, version of the Bible.  Some of you know that can create real problems when dealing with non-native English speakers, and many younger native speakers.  The King James English requires two translations:  the first into modern English and the second into the hearer's native language.

Sometimes our Christian terminology and phraseology is similar.  Non-Christians who are hearing us, are challenged to understand us.  So here are two challenges:
    1) Talk to more non-Christians about eternal matters.
    2) Keep the language simple.

May your tribe increase.