South African slang word added to Oxford dictionary
One of South Africa’s unique slang words has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
South Africa quite possibly has the best slang words in the world.
Just think about "yoh", "now-now", "eish", "sharp-sharp", and "yebo" – these short words carry numerous meanings and say so much with very little.
South Africans often celebrate these words, and now the world does too.
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In celebration of its uniqueness, the South African word "yoh" has made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
The dictionary's latest update includes 600 new words and phrases from English worldwide.
These additions include words from Philippine English, Malaysian English, Singapore English, South African English, and Irish English.
"Yoh", as defined by Oxford, means: "representing a cry or exclamation used to express various emotions or reactions (such as surprise, wonder, admiration, shock, or distress). Sometimes also reduplicated."
Any South African will tell you that "yoh" is a universal word used across all official languages.
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"The interjection ‘yoh,’ which the OED was able to trace to 1855, comes from two sources: it is an imitative utterance that is probably derived from the Afrikaans 'jo' and the Xhosa 'yho' or 'yo'," read an official statement from Oxford.
Other South African words that were also added to the dictionary include "gatvol", "tjoekie", seshweshwe", "shweshwe", "makarapa", "zol", "moggy", and "sharp-sharp".
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