I intended no direct, personal insult Phyllis. It was obvious from your reply to MaxQ that you were from the Republic. The common slang for South Africans here is "japie" as you spell it (correctly, I presume) and "yappie" as I've seen it spelt. If we saw "japie" here, we would assume Japanese!
We use the term the same way that we use Ozzie or Streiner and Kiwi - affectionate contempt.
Especially after the last cricket series. I won't use it again here.
I also assume your name ain't "van der Merwe".
I
knew that was an insult.
It's certainly true that we only take your best. But from what we hear here, your best should be making tracks out of a sense of self-preservation. I know a number of South Africans living here, and they haven't had an easy time of it before they arrived. An academic colleague's 60-year-old sister was raped and sliced to death in her own home outside Cape Town a year ago. Anyway, enough!
Originally I thought you were from Zambia or Zimbabwe, but your post earlier showed that you were identifying with the Republic. Relatively simple deduction!
Anyway, it's good to have you on the board. {Jackie's namaste emoticon]
