South African English?

[Paul Frank]

> > Other peculiarities of South African English are the use of busy
>  > as a progressive marker with stative verbs, as in "we were busy waiting
on
>  > him" (from Afrikaans "besig"),
>
>  To be busy doing something is aomething I've heard and used as long as I
can
>  remember. "She is busy paying the bills." or "He's busy fixing dinner."
>
>  Andrea

Yes, but to non-South Africans "to be busy fixing dinner" means that one is
devoting one's whole attention to cooking dinner. Unless I'm mistaken, in
South African English it just means that one is making dinner. The Oxford
Companion to the English Language gives the following example: "The
rinderpest was busy decimating their herds." The Dutch "bezig" and Afrikaans
"besig" are progressive markers. In Dutch one might say "bezig met het bouwen
van een kerk," which means "(engaged in) building a church," or "hij is bezig
alcoholist te worden," meaning "he is (in the process of) becoming an
alcoholic."

I live in a small village in the French Alps and have never been to South
Africa. Until a couple of months ago, I had a South African neighbor who was
exiled from South Africa because of his opposition to apartheid. He taught me
a couple of things about his country and his languages (Afrikaans and South
African English). The most important thing he taught me was how to make a
proper braai (barbecue).

Cheers,
Paul

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Paul Frank
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