Lost In Translation

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Not quite the same as this ?white side" was a misunderstanding based on sound as it did sound very similar to swearing.

Over the weekend England played South Africa in a semi final match in the rugby World Cup and the game is being talked about for what was allegedly said by one of the players. One of the England players believes he was called a white c.nt by one of the black South African players.

Having lived in South Africa for a large portion of my life I can comfortably say the c word is not a word used. South Africa has another slang word for the same word in Afrikaans which is the common alternative. I seriously have to think when last I heard the c word being used and it must be over 20 years ago and I am no Saint when it comes to not swearing.

Strangely enough I was called a c.nt when I was refereeing in England many years ago and told the plyer he was a c,nt for calling me a c.nt and red carded him. I think people who commonly use this word show more about their upbringing with little class as it is an ugly word. There are some words you just don't use and this is one of them. The SA alternative may mean the exact same thing, but for some reason it just doesn't sound as vulgar when said.

South African sports teams do not speak English during their matches as they have other languages to converse in so the opposition have no clue what is the next move or what their plans are. Afrikaans is a language taught in schools that everyone knows even if it is just the basics. The SA cricket team whilst batting have always spoken Afrikaans by even the English speaking players even if it sounds a little funny with incorrect pronunciations. This is like speaking in code but this hasn't always worked due to many international teams having at least one ex South African in the opposing ranks. Scotland for example have 5 ex south Africans in their squad and speaking Afrikaans would not go unnoticed.

You can understand where the white c.nt comes from and 100% guaranteed the player said wit kant which translated from Afrikaans is white side. England have white clothing so white side refers to the ball being on the white side of the maul at that particular time.

There are many words in Afrikaans that sound bad, but are harmless meaning quite the opposite of what you might interpret. Vakke when spoken sounds shocking, but means subjects as in school subjects you are studying.

I am not saying racism does not exist amongst the population, but in sport it is less so. We see racialism in every day life and live with it twith the blacks openly show their racism to whites and government policies are extremely racist. I do despise this as I am not racist yet have been called racist in public. This is by no means the Rainbow Nation everyone talks about and it has many serious problems bubbling under the surface.

These are your team mates however and you just don't experience this especially knowing the hours you spend together. The South African team would have been living together for almost 16 weeks next weekend and sharing bed rooms and bath rooms together as room mates racism is just not there.

I can see the review held by the South African team being taken seriously for all of 5 minutes as they know it is not something they would condone. The white players in the team would not allow this and rightly so and vice versa with the black players. This unfortunately and thankfully is a case of lost in translation when you hear something that sounds terrible, but is in fact harmless.