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Catchword for “Ja well no fine”
Catchword: Ja well no fine
Filed under:
Part of speech: other.
The part of speech reflects that used in the full entry, and not necessarily the part of speech as it is used in the quotation below.
Quotation: Consider the local expression, “Ja, well, no fine.”….Is it one word? Does it have commas? Even the Dictionary of South African English stumbles: “to explain this to a non-South African is a challenge.” A few years ago, the former radio broadcaster RJB Wilson, who coined the expression back in 1978, tried to explain it. “My youngest brother,” he wrote, “was in the habit of saying ‘no fine’ to everything that really required a ‘c’est la vie’ or ‘that’s the way the cookie crumbles.’ It had a nice South African feel to it. I added ‘Ja, well…’ to it to reinforce the South Africanism.”
Article or Document Title:
“Letter from South Africa: Blend of Languages Hard to Digest”
Author:
Kurt Shillinger
Article, document, publication, web site:
Boston Globe
Dateline:
Johannesburg, South Africa
Date of publication:
Oct. 22, 2000
Page number:
A17
This cite belongs to a full entry for Ja well no fine.
Posted 19 May 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

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