indeed sound asleep until OSL grumpily woke him by kicking him repeatedly. “What made him so certain that he had not been asleep, he said, was that he was imagining all the time that he was chasing bluebottles amongst the stars” (MR: 25 “Starlight on the Veld”).
bluecoat Habitual criminal serving the ‘indeterminate sentence’; such inmates wore a blue serge jacket to mark them off from the ordinary convicts, who wore brown corduroy jackets (L&O: 77 “Rosser”; CSJ: 48).
Bluecoat Verdamp Habitual criminal who claims credit for starting a bread-throwing demonstration (CSJ: 136).
bluegum Eucaplyptus; exotic tree from Australia that has become – ironically – an iconic feature of the SA platteland (S&H: 84 “The Wind in the Tree”). See also “Dream by the Bluegums”.
blue-jackets Uniformed London police (L&O: 91 “Royal Processions”).
“Blunted Weapons” Title of a sketch in “Romance: A Sequence”.
Boeotian Referring to Boeotia, a district in Ancient Greece or its people; also means stupid and without cultural refinement (YB: 63 “Romance: A Sequence”).
boer (Afr.) Lit. ‘farmer’; generic name for a member of the Afrikaans community, sometimes used pejoratively.
“Boer and Jew” (L&O: 171) Article for The South African Jewish Times on platteland hospitality and the enduring yet misunderstood relationship between Afrikaners and Jews. HCB breaks a lance for the Afrikaner and reveals his love for the platteland and its inhabitants. “God, you have only to look at their jokes to see that the Afrikaners and Jews are human beings, and remarkably fine human beings. And may God forgive them for their jests with life.”
boer bulldog/boerboel Mastiff-type dog unique to SA (H: 28 “Black Magic”).
“Boer Rip van Winkel, A” (OTS: 44) A weary Boer War soldier falls asleep only to wake up 12 years later in the midst of the 1914 Rebellion (see Rebellion of 1914). A poignant homage to Washington Irving’s classic tale and to soldiers who fought futile battles stoically. Herklaas van Wyk (the ‘Boer Rip van Winkel’) “realised that he would not be able, with the handful of burghers under his command, to invade England.”
Boer War See Anglo–Boer War, Second.
boeremusiek (Afr.) Lit. ‘boer music’; lively instrumental SA folk music derived from traditional European forms such as the polka and the mazurka, but with its own unique character; used as accompaniment to folk dancing and social occasions (IT: 76 “Potchefstroom Willow”).
boereorkes (Afr.) Lit. ‘Boer orchestra’ (folk music group) (H: 241 “Bekkersdal Centenary”).
boereseun (Afr.) Lit. ‘Afrikaans country boy’; well-known sentimental folk song; Chris Welman’s offer to sing it ‘with actions’ is turned down by Vermaak the school-teacher (IT: 62 “School Concert”).
boerewors (Afr.) Lit. ‘farmer’s sausage’; coarse sausage of minced beef and pork (sometimes of game), strongly spiced with coriander (S&H: 101 “The Ghost at the Drift”).
boet (Afr.) Shortened form of ‘broer’; lit. ‘brother’; English form would be ‘bro’, although boet has also been taken up into casual SA English parlance (CSJ: 74).
Boet A young, quick-witted poor-white labourer who survives by ingratiating himself with Bert Parsons, thus getting tasks that are physically less demanding (JN: 45).
Bogodi, Annie Girlfriend of Mletshwa Kusane (YB: 188 “Johannesburg Christmas Eve”).
bog-spavined When a horse is worked too hard in clay ground and its hooves become mired in the mud. The resulting injury, owing to internal scar tissue, then manifests itself as a lameness (CJ: 201 “Calling All Patients”).
bok (Afr.) The railing of an ox wagon (IT: 45 “Ghost Trouble”).
Bombay Duck A ‘responsible’ convict (CSJ: 152).
Bones, Lockjaw Bumbling detective who is a spoof of Sherlock Holmes; created by HCB as a schoolboy (L&O: 40 “The Mystery of the Ex-M.P.”).
bonsella Small reward or freebie; usually given to a customer who has bought something else much bigger; related to the Afrikaans word ‘pasella’, which is derived from Zulu (IT: 53 “Oom Tobie’s Sickness”).
Bonthuys, Frik Farmer in a remote area of the Marico held up as an example of what really backward people are like: “Frik Bonthuys wore his shirt outside of his trousers, and the back part of it hung down almost on to the ground” (IT: 71 “White Ant”).
Bonthuys, Joachem Affable nephew of Philippus Bonthuys, farm manager for Theunis Dupreez, and object of Marie Dupreez’s affection (UD: 84 “The Lover Who Came Back”).
Bonthuys, Minnie Attractive female teacher sent to the Marico from the Cape to replace the previous soft and ineffectual male teacher; object of Stoffel Lemmer’s affection (S&H: 54 “Bushveld Romance”).
Bonthuys, Philippus Ebullient farmer who interrupts Marie Dupreez’s operatic recital to make a speech and convince her to sing Afrikaans folk songs instead of Italian arias (UD: 81 “The Lover Who Came Back”).
boob Slang term for prison (CSJ: 64).
“Book of the Month” (WS: 168) A damning review by HCB of End and Beginning (1945), a poetry pamphlet by David Lewis. Accusing Lewis of writing verse rather than poetry, he offers examples of versifying that draws on a real interest in, and study of, poetry, but that fails to elevate itself beyond the banal. In the process, HCB rails against the modern drift towards free verse, which frequently, he asserts, is indulged in for the sake of being trendy rather than in order to convey any higher artistic imperatives. “The indications are that a good deal of poetry is going to be written in South Africa in the near future. When that happens, we shall be here to welcome it. But let us rather have nothing at all than that we should be presented with words and lines strung together with a greater or lesser amount of meaning in them, and with no poetry.”
boom (Afr.) Lit. ‘tree’; nickname for dagga, referring to the biblical ‘tree of knowledge’, as this was the supposed effect of dagga on the user (CSJ: 72).
boomslang (Afr.) Lit. ‘tree snake’; shy venomous snake; several varieties exist, ranging from black to green in colour; they grow up to one-and-a-half metres in length (MR: 47 “The Music Maker”; H: 109 “Mental Trouble”).
Booth, William, ‘General’ (1829–1912) English Methodist minister who founded the Salvation Army (CJ: 108 “Christmas Celebrations”).
Borcherd, Hendrik Late husband of Petronella (H: 153 “The Ugly Tale of a Pretty Widow”).
Borcherd, Petronella Widow of Hendrik Borcherd (H: 153 “The Ugly Tale of a Pretty Widow”).
“Border Badman” (H: 99) Oupa Bekker and Gysbert van Tonder relate stories of cattle smuggling and brushes with the law. A tale of age-old greed, bribery and corruption. “Patrolman Duvenhage said to Oupa Bekker, ‘I decided to give him a break. So I went up to him and kicked him twice, and told him to hand over the letter. Because I knew that was what he wanted. I mean, it’s an old stunt on the diamond fields.’”
Bosman, Elisa See Malan, Elisa.
Bosman, E(lise)
