Wombles and Willy Moon

We are heading down the home stretch with the last few letters of the A to Z Blog Challenge.

We have W, X, Y and Z left. WOW! I can't believe I made it this far.  Today's letter is W.

The Wimbledon Wombles.  Those orange, fuzzy foragers who were under-ground, over-ground Wombling free?  Sticking their bear-like pointy noses into everyone's rubbish and always finding something of significance?

Remember Great Uncle Bulgaria with his specs perched on the end of this nose and his tartan shoes. Orinoco is the lazy one, who is always late,  Tobermory the clever one and bossy Bungo.   Madame Cholet who spoke with a very posh French accent, who I always thought was Madame Charlotte and Cousin Cairngorm McWomble the Terrible.  There was wee Wellington with his blue and black cap and black rimmed specs?  They were all dead cute.  I used to watch the TV series every Saturday morning and sang along to the very catching song "Wombling Free"

The Wombles always had brilliant adventures while on "Tidy Up Duty".  They used to find all sorts of useless stuff that they made interesting.  My Dad always used to say that "The Wombles could make honey outta dog shite!"  Yeah...my Dad is quite a character with a mouth like a sailor...

Did you enjoy watching The Wombles?

Today's music features Willy Moon. He's not vintage, but his music definitely sounds from a different era. 

 Enjoy!  

Linolium is Like So Hot Right Now!

Remember those awful sixties and seventies linoleum kitchen floors?  It was dead trendy at the time, but looking back, those patterns were like a frikken eye test.

Gosh, they were uglier than a bag full of arseholes.

My folks used to change our linoleum at least every year.  I guess my mum loved keeping up with the trends...or is that keeping up with the Jones'?

For those of you who don't remember what lino is, it's a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil, pine rosin, ground cork dust and wood flour.  Rolls of lino come in thousands of different patterns and colours.  Seems like the majority of the sixties designs were vomit coloured.

Do you remember putting on your fluffiest socks and sliding along the linoleum floor?  It was a blast!   Happy Times.

I also remember sitting at the kitchen table, my mum nagging us to eat our vegetables and, to pass the time, I counted the blocks in lino.  It takes me back in time to when my mum cooked us Mince 'n Tatties and always seemed to burn the tatties.  When I went to someone else's house to eat the same dish, I was always surprised to not taste the burn.  My mum never watched Martha Stewart, or owned a cook book!  Bless her!

Today's musical interlude is Led Zeppelin.  I adore Led Zep, they made some brilliant music and both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are legends!  In my opinion, they weren't the best at playing live but Robert made up for it with his on-stage performance and charisma.

Enjoy.

Take A Chill Pill

The Letter C finds us jumping back in time to these...

Kids of today would not understand the relationship between these two items - The Pencil and The Cassette Tape. 

When your favourite MixTape got eaten up by your Sony Walkman, you opened it up, pulled out the cassette and the miles of tape that the Walkman "ate", you had to insert the pencil between the cogs in the holes and wind the tape back into the cassette manually. 

If you didn't have a pencil or a pen, you used your finger and tore all the skin of your Peter Pointer while doing it.  We often had to do this with our favourite Mix Tapes, because we played them over and over again and the tapes would get stretched.  It was your worst nightmare if you snapped the tape on your favourite U2 cassette.

Sometimes, we even used cellotape to rescue the poor thing.  It always left a muted section on your tape, but it was either that, or chuck the entire tape in the bin?!

Remember Cabbage Patch Kids with their very own Birth Certificate?

Care Bears.  Everyone had a favourite and we used to watched the TV Show every Saturday morning

 

The Cure are today's Retro band.  I used to love Robert Smith, but was always a wee bit put off my his messy hair and smudged red lipstick.  Good toonz though...

A to Z Blog Challenge Theme Reveal

This is a last minute decision to take part in the 2015 A to Z Blog Challenge. 

I haven't blogged in almost a year, so I thought this would be a brilliant way of getting back into the swing of things. 

I have done four previous A To Z Blog Challenges successfully, so I thought I'd give it another go just for old time's sake.

 And that, my Pretty Plonkers, is exactly what my Theme this year is going to be....Retro Nostalgia.

 


 Here are the hosts:

Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out

Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

Jeremy @ Hollywood Nuts

Nicole Ayers @ The Madlab Post

Author Stephen Tremp

Heather M. Gardner

AJ Lauer

Pam @ An Unconventional Librarian

Matthew MacNish @ The QQQE

Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary

S. L. Hennessy @ Pensuasion

C. Lee McKenzie @ The Write Game

Joy Campbell @ The Character Depot

Susan Gourley @ Susan Says

John  Holton @The Sound of One Hand Typing

Lisa Buie-Collard, Author

Hey Okes!

Southafricanisms is the topic and today's letter is O.


Oke, ou [prounounced oak or oh].  An informal  Southafricanism meaning a man, similar to "guy" or "bloke" or "dude" derived from "okie" the anglicized form of the Afrikaans word "outjie" or little chap.  The word "ou" can be used interchangeably.

Usage : You can never stay befuck with an oke you smoke nchangu with.

Credit Indieberries

Local is Lekkerrrrrrrrrrr

Lekker [pronounced lekk-irr with a rolling r].  From the Afrikaans word for delicious.  Lekker means nice, cool, fun or tasty.

Lekker is a commonly used word in the Dutch language that is more similar to the word English word luscious than the word tasty. Lekker is used to denote something delicious or sweet, and is more commonly used by the under 30 crowd as a term for a woman having sex appeal.  Lekker, like luscious, has a sexual connotation. In South Africa, however, lekker has primarily been used in place of the English terms "cool" or "sweet," with a much more broad, less sexual, undertone.

Usage: “We had a lekker time last night.” 

or

"Hey I just found 100 bucks! Lekker man..."  

or 

"That chick in the bikini checks out lekker hey?"

 

Just-Now Jol

Happy Friday, Plonkers

Be Patient

South Africans have their own time and are famous for their more relaxed attitude to time and time management.  Laaik Shwaah, hey?

Today is the letter J for the A to Z Blog challenge and were are going to discuss the phrases, "Just-now" and "now-now".

These two Southafricanisms denote varying levels of urgency. 

Just-now means a bit later i.e shortly or in a bit, whereas now-now means a little more immediate.

Usage :  Are you coming to Jason's braai?  Sure, I'll be there just-now.

Phoning someone “now-now” is sooner than “now” or “just-now” but not as soon as “right now”. 

It may seem rather confusing at first, but we have brilliant safaris and people who do our fekkin' ironing.  Geezo, it's blerrie paradise.

Either adapt and learn, or just smile and wave, bru.

Izit?

Izit (pronounced iz-it). (a) This SouthAfricanism is used when you have nothing to contribute to the conversation.  It's basically a word which can be used at any random moment to start a conversation or carry it on.  Derived from the two words “is” and “it”.

It can be an expression of surprise, used even when the preceding statement did not include the verb “to be”. 

Izit also shows all sorts of emotions:

1. The sarcastic izit - "Really, is that so?" 
2. The questionable izit - "You're having me on."
3. The suspicious izit?  "I don't believe that for a second.".  


For instance:  If someone says “The Russians will succeed in their bid for capitalism once they adopt a work ethic and respect for private ownership,” it is rather appropriate to respond by saying “Izit?”.

 

Do You Like My Dinges?

Happy Friday, Plonkers.

Today is Day #4 of the A to Z Blog Challenge and I've already visited nearly 50 blogs.  Pat on the back puleeease.  Everyone seems to have their shit together this year and are happily raking in the comments and visits.  

All the blogs I've visited seem so prepared and have a well-thought-out themes.  Why do I feel so unorganised?

Okaydokay, back to my theme - Southafricanisms


D is for Dinges [pronounced ding-us]. This is an indeterminate, non-descript thing or term for an object whose name you've momentarily forgotten.  From the Afrikaans language, from ding, which means thing.  Similar to a Thing-a-ma-bob or a whachyamacallit.  

Sometimes, more often than not, referring to a man's genitals.

Usage: "Please pass me my dinges there." "What?" "My dinges. I want to blow it." "You mean your vuvuzela?" "Yes, my vuvuzela.".

Hard Times Will Always Reveal True Chommies

Happy Day No. 3, Pretty Plonkers and that means today is the letter C.  

I think the most diverse thing in South Africa is our culture. They don't call us "The Rainbow" national for nothing.  With eleven official languages and so many ethnic and cultural differences, South Africans pride themselves on their hospitality. 

Chommies [pronounced ch-om-eez] is today's Southafricanism, if you haven't realized it yet.  Chommies is a term meaning "friend" or "buddy", which originates from isiXhoas, one of SA's 11 official languages, which also happens to be Mandela's home language. 

South Africans love making new Chommies, we love entertaining our Chommies and we know the importance of Chommies!  I know I certainly do, and I don't forget to tell my friends how much they mean to me and how much I love them.  I couldn't live without my friendships.

Usage :  "Howzit!  I'll be drinking with my chommies, wanna join us?"

My BFF aka My Bestest "Chommie"

May The Wors Be With You

Hey Precious Plonkers.  Today's letter is B and there are a couple of things that are typically South African that begin with the letter B.

Firstly, Braai [pronounced br-eye] - This is the popular South African version of the backyard barbecue where meats such as steak, chicken and boerewors (pronounced boo-ruh-vorss) are cooked. 

Secondly, Boerewors is a traditional spicy South African sausage made of beef or lamb and is also referred to as wors (vorss). Nothin' like a good boerie roll.  Chances are that you will also be introduced to pap en sous (pronounced pup en sohss) at a braai. Pap is boiled corn meal, and sous is the sauce it is covered with, usually featuring tomato and onions. Tasteeeeeee

Lastly, Biltong [pronounced bill-tong] This South African favourite is dried and salted meat, similar to beef jerky, although it can be made from ostrich, kudu, beef or any other red meat. It is synonymous with rugby, another South African favourite.

Usage:  Ons gaan nou braai, hoor? (Translation : Braai the beloved country).

"I Braai Therefore I am"

Ayoba Africa

Day One of The A to Z Blog Challenge and we're finally here!  I was late signing up this year (this is my fourth year doing the challenge) and so I am #1055 on the list

A huge, South African welcome to all the old Plonkers and all the new visitors to my wee bloggy.

My Theme for the A to Z Blog Challenge this year is SouthAfricanisms.

So, sit back, relax and you just may be enlightened about South Africa and the jargon we speak.  It is such a beautiful country, that has so much to offer and so many different cultures and quirks.

We start with the Letter A...

Ayoba [pronounced ah-yoh-ba] is a slang term used by South Africans to express amazement.  Its is derived from other slang terms like "Ayeye" and "Ayoyoyo".  It was originally meant as an approval or appreciation of good dancing, other the exact origins of the phrase are unknown. 

"Ayoba" is thought to have roots in a Johannesburg township culture.  It also became really popular during our hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  Even a major cellphone network, MTN, snapped up the word and used it in all their television commercials.  

It is uniquely and proudly South African and expresses delight, excitement, agreement and approval. It's also used as a greeting.

All-in-all a brilliant Southafricanism.

Usage : Crowd surfin' is totally ayoba!

A to Z Blog Challenge Theme Reveal Vloggy #atozchallenge

Go sign up for the A to Z Blog Challenge this April.


 

Next Lady For A Shave

Day 16 of Paula's July Blog Challenge.

Today's Question:  What is one thing that you have never done that you think most people have?

I have never shaved my face.

There are more men on this earth than women, right?  That means most people have shaved their face and I've never done that....

...until today.




Next time you shave, try standing an inch or two closer to the blade.

Healthy Wealth

Link up with Paula and her July Blog Challenge.

Today's Question : Would you rather be rich of healthy?

Personally, I'd rather have my health, because I've never been rich and so you can't really miss what you haven't had, right?  

I figure, if you don't have your health how can you honestly enjoy your wealth?  Oh I know your money could buy you the best health care and treatments but how much fun can you have when you're always ill.

Yeah, I'd have my health...but a wee bit more money wouldn't hurt either.

And one of my favourite bands, ACDC, talking about money

 

Shoegasm and Instagram Whore

Happy Friday, Plonkers!  

It's Day 12 of Paula's July Blog Challenge.  Go sign up if you haven't already.

Today's Question : Who or what do you take the most pictures of?

Another easy one -  my family and friends.  

I take my camera everywhere and my phone takes great pictures too.  

Most of you beautiful Plonkers know that I'm an Instagram Whore and if you follow me there, you'll know that I post pictures about pretty much everything.  

My HTC X One has been in for repairs for over a month.  After I shattered the screen, I'm waiting for my insurance to pay out so that I can either get mine repaired, or get a new phone.


I miss my phone, I miss Instagram and taking and posting daily pictures.

Follow me on Instagram.  I'll be back there sooner than you know it, snapping up everything and anything!

And now some pretty shoes...Friday is my Shoegasm day but in actual fact I look at shoes on the interwebz every day.  I subscribe to a few "Shoe of the Day" sites and I'm forever oogling them on Pinterest.  

I love to find websites that offer designer-looking shoes at bargain prices but, alas, most of them are in the US or the UK and the shipping costs versus the shoes are astronomical.  Och well, a girl can still dream about pretty shoes, right?

Royal Blue sequined Peep Toe with Union Jack design 

Pinup Girl Peep Toe Platforms with pretty bow detail

One of my favourites - Iron Fist.  Love the Sugar Skull 

This nude sandal is WAY over the top but so pretty.
I don't have the most dainty ankles for this design, but I can still admire them, right?

Mint and Black Strikin PeepToes with Black Flower ankle detail.  So Glam!

Now go and have a great weekend, my Lovely Plonkers!