Namlish
on Sally in Namibia (Namibia), 27/Jul/2009 11:32, 34 days ago
Namlish is the term used to refer to the Namibian version of English. Most of the time the two are indistinguishable but every now and then the difference bursts forth much to my internal amusement. Some recent examples:The health inspector's report (shudder, the less said about that the better) made reference to blooms being incorrectly stored. What? I didn't know we had flowers. Ah bRooms! Good old ovambo 'r's. And clacks in the floor hadn't been cleaned eitherMy colleague regularly says that things are quite very important– I haven't decoded whether that means things are or aren't importantMany people are keen to improve their English and a colleague came to me recently bearing a piece of paper with colour/color, organise/organize and several others asking me what was the correct spelling. Well the English ones of course I explained and then offered to correct his dictionary on his computer so dodgy American spelling was no longer allowed– go me! he seemed quite happy as well although now I wonder whether the Namibian government has an official line on which spelling to use.In the course of the conversation we got onto the difference between British and Americans. Apparently we have a very strong culture and stick to our principles– this means we get frustrated when people don't do want we want and get homesick and want to go home. On the other hand Americans change their culture easily so it is easy for Namibia to get them to stay and if they have to go home they cry. What could I say except 'that's an interesting observation'. I suppose the fact that they don't want us to leave means that they don't mind that we try to get them to do what we want!