7 ways to know you are fiercely South African

From viral dance challenges, the celebrations and pride in the achievements of our South African heroes, and the ability to laugh at ourselves, South Africans know how to have a good time together. No matter the culture or background some common traits brings us all together in that special kind of Mzanzi magic.

Here is the lowdown on seven ways to know you are fiercely South African:

You know the difference between 'now' and 'now, now'

We make up our own rules here in the Motherland and it isn’t uncommon for a South African to share an ETA with a firm, 'now now'. This is a unique measure of time created to suggest we are close by. This could be anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes. If that isn’t unclear enough, South Africans will not hesitate to respond with a ‘just now’ which is an altogether different measure of time, suggesting anything less than 10 minutes. Somehow, we understand it, and it just works! Now, try that in another country and see what happens.

There's an 80% chance you know exactly how to light your house perfectly with candles.

We have a name for it, a schedule and even a few apps - you guessed it – it’s loadshedding time once again! South Africans have become so adept at handling the intermittent power outages, we’ve taken it to a whole new level. Surprise romantic candlelight dinners in the lounge – tick. Family backyard movie night powered by your fully charged laptop and projector – feeling a little smug about so much battery power, aren’t you? And of course, another power-outage means another excuse to light up the braai for dinner or support a local restaurant with a takeaway order. Loadshedding – we’ve got this!

The rules to the legendary card game, Crazy Eight change based on your location.

South Africans love gatherings and card games to match, but there is one game that will cause a divide amongst loved ones: the rules of Crazy Eight.

The province you’re from often determines the rules by which you play. And anyone who doesn’t play your way simply doesn't know the rules. Inevitably, it means spending most of the game bickering on which rules to use - sigh!

Turns out we play the game only to just talk about how to play the game. Classic.

There’s always a good reason to have a braai

Come rain, come sunshine… we braai. Birthdays, graduations, baby's first word or even loadshedding – and let’s not forget game day either – these are just some of the never-ending reasons we give to braai. There’s something about the smell of meat sizzling on the grill that's the perfect backdrop to any get together.

Braais are a fantastic way of starting friendships and maintaining those bonds. So why the heck not? Feeling a little hungry? Light up a braai and throw on some juicy pork chops.

“Shame” can be thrown into any sentence

“Ag shame”, “shampies”, “shame boet” – South Africans really know how to make the phrase “shame” work for almost any situation. We can mean it in a good way, or a bad way... and sometimes both in the same sentence.

Not too much surprises you anymore

Let’s face it we live in a world of Parktown prawns, unfinished highway bridges in the middle of the Cape Town city, scheduled power cuts, Christmases on the beach, people throwing punches in parliament (and not only the verbal kind), and our traffic lights are called robots. And honestly, anything can happen in the back of a bakkie – bakuzzi anyone?

You think about relocating, but in the end, this will always be home.

At some time or other, during loadshedding, water restrictions or the latest sin-tax increases, the allure of another country’s greener pastures may have you considering a move. But in the end South Africa isn’t perfect, but it is home. It’s where everyone gets your humour and where, when the going gets tough, we crack a joke and a cold one, and we make a plan.

Mzanzi might be culturally dynamic and uniquely turbulent, but it’s home and we love it.

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