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We/they going to the shop - South African?

14 replies

ButternutSoup · 10/04/2024 08:40

I've noticed many people leave out the auxiliary verb 'are' when writing things like 'We going to the shop' and 'They going on holiday'.

It makes my eye twitch. They sound illiterate, when I know they aren't!

I've noticed it mainly among my fellow South Africans and it's embarrassing. These are South Africans whose first language is English, by the way. I wouldn't be judging them if they had another mother tongue, like Zulu or Afrikaans.

Do some British people do it as well, I wonder?

Speaking of South African English, don't even get me started on 'We going to the shop, you want to come with?'

I'm thinking of starting to tell people when they do this. It can only help them in the long run, surely, by stopping them from looking bad in front of employers, etc? I'm an in-house copy editor at a book publisher, so maybe they won't take as much offense if the correction is coming from me.

Or, maybe I'll do a public service announcement about it on my Facebook, so nobody feels personally attacked.

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ButternutSoup · 10/04/2024 08:49

Just realised I used the US spelling 'offense' instead of the British 'offence'.

I'll get my coat.

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sunglassesonthetable · 13/04/2024 13:14

Love this! My South African mother ( in the UK ) says " come with ?"

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MissyB1 · 13/04/2024 13:20

My SA husband always laughs at how some of his SA friends talk. “Come with” drives me mad, luckily he doesn’t say it but a lot of his friends do! There’s a very funny sketch Dh once showed me on his phone where the SA guy says “I are wearing a jean pant” it’s hilarious!

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ButternutSoup · 13/04/2024 17:51

MissyB1 · 13/04/2024 13:20

Haha, "I can like to be wearing a jean pant" is another construction of that. It's a common joke we use when parodying the Afrikaans way of speaking English (and Afrikaners use it to mock themselves and each other, too).

Has your husband ever told you about the common South African phrase "just now"?

Eg: "I've got another call coming in; I'll call you back just now." The time period referred to here could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours, or even longer.

Another version of this is "now now".

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ButternutSoup · 13/04/2024 17:52

sunglassesonthetable · 13/04/2024 13:14

Love this! My South African mother ( in the UK ) says " come with ?"

Ag shame, man!

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MigsandTiggs · 13/04/2024 18:05

Interesting, but it's not an exclusively SA way of speaking. "We going, I going, just now, now now" etc are used in the English speaking Caribbean too.

The negative of "I going" is "I eh going".

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ConfusedGin · 13/04/2024 18:30

I still use now / now now having learned about it whilst working in South Africa 15 years ago. I love it and am also sucker for the accent

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Needmorelego · 13/04/2024 18:40

All very Interesting.
I grew up saying "goin' round the shop" (English Midlands) - why "round" - there was no circle route involved 🤔
I also frequently said "goin' down town" which was said whether the town centre was geographically up or down a hill 😂