Hectic babbelas muti

While reading up on the freak cold weather South Africa has been having, a pop-up ad commanded my attention. It said "hectic babbelas muti". I instantly started to chuckle. It was an ad for expat South Africans, inviting them to be part of an online community - and the appeal was made using slang that no-one but a South African would recognise. Hectic babbelas muti means strong (hectic!) babbelas (hangover) muti (medicine).

This got me giggling and doing a little searching at those precious South Africanisms which make no sense anywhere else. Here are a few that made me laugh out loud (mostly because I've used all these words in sentences myself... before I moved to the USA!):

"ag" - A multi-purpose word, pronounced like the ach in German. "Ag, no man" (sign of irritation). "Ag shame" (sign of sympathy). Can precede any sentence for various effects, such as the more neutral, "Ag, I don't know."
"ace" - Meaning alone/solitary "I'm here on my ace"
"baff" - a fart (this one had me shaking with laughter - it's been YEARS since I heard someone say that...)
"padkos" - food for a road trip
"dinges" - a thingymajig
"izzit" - literally from "is it?". It means "really?" - but doesn't really express disbelief in whatever the other person has just said...
"just now" - means immediately, soon, or in a long time. Somehow, South Africans always seem to know which is inferred at the time. I have no way of explaining it here.
"plunger" - a french press for coffee. (For those in SA - plunger here seems to only refer to the toilet-unblocker dinges)
"eina" - ouch
"robot" - traffic light
"fundi" - an expert
"bergie" - a hobo
"graze" - eat
"tune" - (verb) to say something/to reply
"jislaaik" (yis-like) - An expression of outrage or surprise: "Jislaaik, I just saw Elvis!". Funny story - One of the actors in one of the Disney-Orca movies was South African. He played a villain. There's a scene in the movie when he's leaning over the jetty and a sea creature jumps up at him and he cries out "Jislaaik!" They kept his 'natural response' intact in the final US version of it. I nearly had stomach cramps I laughed so much...
"rock up" - to arrive somewhere unannounced
"skinner" - to gossip (but often not maliciously. can be used of the female trait of 'news exchange' too)
"scale/scaly" - to scale something is to steal it. A scaly person should not be trusted.

For those who are laughing in recognition, check this out too...