Afrikaans challenged

From Great North Road

Here's a funny story to share. Groan... not again. Do you remember in primary school, we used to be divided up into sports houses? I went to Kitwe Primary School - the lone one on this site it seems. Y'all went to Frederick Knapp or Riverain. Anyway, we had four houses. Luapula, Itawa, Malima and Kasonga. I was in Kasonga - green house. I was very athletic when I was younger and a little (okay a lot..) bigger than some of the other kids by the time I was 12. (Beer hops in the bottom of a glass will do that to you when you are a kid, by the way. He! He!) Truth is, I could run the pants off most boys at that age. (Never quite grew out of that habit either. Ta da, hello!)

We had sports day one fine Saturday afternoon. It was down to the last girls' race - the relay. I was running the last leg. Our team was in last place and I was chomping at the bit to get going. I took off, teeth full of bugs as the wind rushed against me and down over my svelte body .. oops sorry. Got carried away in fantasy for a bit ... No, seriously, remember how the parents would line up 10 deep behind the ropes along the running track and cheer their heads off for the kids? My dad was a little squatty English man, all of 5' 2" tall. There he was, pressed up to the ropes, next to this 6' 4" Afrikaner, whose daughter was on another team. My dad told the story like this. It has become a family favourite. I quickly gained on 2 of the 3 other girls ahead of me, and caught up with the girl in front, just as we coincidentally were right in front of the two fathers. As I edged ahead, the Afrikaner turns to my dad and says "Yirrah man, what a bleddy great big elephant that girl is." My dad rose to his full 5' 2" and retorted back, "Hey, I'll have you know that's my Linda you're insulting!" The Afrikaner looked down the track again, scratched his head and replied, "Ag, sistog man, but she's got a lekker stride, though!"

I laughed my head off when my dad told me that. Sorry for the terrible Afrikaans in this story, but I am "Afrikaans challenged" as they say here in the USA.

Contributed by Linda Hayes.

November 2001