Playing Football with the English Language: Car Parts or Come-Ons?

SA Loguers Ben and Trekker – respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US – are kicking the English language around.

“Go ahead, just put your bike in my boot”
“I’ll pop the bonnet and we can check the engine”
“He just cut us off! Blow your hooter at that guy!”

Now to those unfamiliar with South African lingo the above sentences might seem a bit impossible – and the last one downright raunchy…

But let me give you a little translation lesson. In South Africa, parts of the car go as follows:

Boot = trunk (not a boot, nor something you wear or your “booty”)
Bonnet = hood (not a ladies hat from Victorian times)
Hooter = horn (yes, this one has got me in trouble a few times)

So the next time you get in a car and your South African friend starts asking you to blow your hooter or pop your bonnet, he is not making obscure sexual references, but rather just talking about the vehicle.

Over to you Ben!

Trekker